One of the most famous images from the Dada period of art and literature comes from the brush of the Belgian painter René Magritte:
As you see, it’s a painting of a pipe, with the words written on it, Ceci n’est pas une pipe.
This is Not a Pipe
Absurd? Well, absurdity was the heart and soul of Dada. But it is, of course, a literal statement of fact: This is a painting. It is simply a painted image. No matter how much it LOOKS like a pipe, this is not a pipe. It is a painting.
Either the joke leaves you cold, or it delights you, as it does me, with its literal absurdity, its absurd literalness. So when I took a picture of my living room wall one afternoon and saw on the computer how it had come out, I was tickled. My very own Magritte!
If I knew how to put lettering right onto the image, I would do so — But as it is, I must content myself with captioning it:
THIS WALL IS WHITE
Because the joke, of course, is that the wall is white. What trick of the afternoon light washed it with color? I have no idea. But take my word for it: This Wall is White.
Touch2Touch 
Then I must ask the obvious question: how can this wall be white if this wall is not a wall? 😉
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BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!
Asleep at the switch, if there were prizes you’d win one, Michele!!!!!!
🙂
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I love magritte for exactly the same reasons. That picture also makes me think about language – the fact that the object has nothing in it that makes it a “pipe” other than that we chose to give it that label. It could just as well have been called a “dog” and as an object been no different.
M2Mg
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You’re right, of course.
I wonder if you have a favorite Magritte — if you could name just one favorite?
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The one that just got crushed in a lorry – it’d be worth a fortune ;<)
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Which one was this?
What’s the story?
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I think it’s only a white wall sometimes. At other times, in photographs, at a certain hour on a sunny day in October, it’s a rusty orangy wall. Aren’t you lucky? You may never have to paint your home again.
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Yeah, all I have to do is manage to make time stand still!
😀
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Ha! I was on Michele’s wavelength because I fully expected the caption to read, “This is not a wall.” It took me a moment to switch gears and figure out that though the wall looked orange, it was a trick of the light and the eye. That wall may indeed be white but the picture of it just goes to show that you can’t believe everything you see 😉
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So that’s two of you who were ahead of me —
I was just so tickled because the white wall was orange (or the orange wall was white?)
Anyway — the eyes can lie, like any other sense!
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What Pauline said!
BTW yours is an extreme example of mine…
http://pseu1.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/sunsetting/
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You are absolutely right.
Clearly, Great Minds running in the same channels!!!!!!
🙂
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Regardless of what it is (or isn’t), I think it’s lovely. And wonderful that it caused you to laugh! 🙂
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The discussion has caused me to laugh even more !!!
😀
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Love it. Love that there are creative discussions alive about art and philosophy. Just wonderful.
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The more, the merrier when it comes to these kinds of discussions —
thrilled to have you aboard.
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Hilarious! The eye is also drawn to the cord and how the little plastic part at the end is perched on the edge of the windowsill. As if it’s thinking about jumping into the void, or … perhaps not!
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And to think I would have cropped it out if I’d been able to figure out how!
Your imaginations are more adventurous than mine. And I love your metaphor —
We’ll never know, will we? whether it took the plunge or not 😉
Thanks to you both for the visit and the comment.
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Fantastic post! Enjoyed the literal absurdity.
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Everybody had a lot of fun!
Glad you did too —
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