Magritte used the figure of the man with the republican hat in several of his paintings. Perhaps, this painting is not as well known as other Magritte paintings, however, it is easily identifiable as one of his paintings, reminding us of the famous painting “The Son of Man” (1964).
Look at the painting and its details. The man’s face is covered, as if the dove has flown into the frame; as if Magritte were taking a snapshot. The bird is flying from the man’s left to the man’s right, toward the light. We don’t see the man’s eyes, but we do see the bird’s left eye; whereas in “The Son of Man,” we can see the man’s left eye. The man’s collar is a pale pink, compared to the bright red collar that appears in “The Son of Man.” Unlike that painting, this is a close-up of the man’s shoulders. Look at the blue background behind him; is that the sky, or is the man sitting in front of a backdrop prepared for a portrait?
What attracted Magritte and made him so different from most of his fellow surrealists was the mystery and the sense of dreaming. Joan Miró advocated an “automatic” approach, letting the unconscious define the lines; Dalí reached into the world of dreams, returning to three-dimensional and figurative art in his later works; while Magritte remained faithful to his canons (tradition) of flat dimensions and frozen images. What Magritte sought and what he achieved best in his work had less to do with challenging the viewer than with awakening curiosity to see life liberated from the concrete and the present.
Source: https://www.renemagritte.org/man-in-a-bowler-hat.jsp
Image Credits: https://www.renemagritte.org
