A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'The first significant biography of the artist' Michael Prodger
The Times' 'Best art books of 2021' 'Exemplary ... a scintillating read' Alastair Sooke Daily
Telegraph 'For those who love Magritte and those who do not Danchev's biography will come as a
revelation' Literary Review René Magritte's surreal sensibility deadpan melodrama and
fine-tuned outrageousness have all become inescapably part of our times. But these
groundbreaking subversions all came from a middle-class Belgian gent who kept a modest house
in a Brussels suburb and whose first one-man show sold absolutely nothing. Through a deep
examination of Magritte's friendships and his artistic development Alex Danchev explores the
path of an highly unconventional artist who posed profound questions about the relationship
between image and reality challenged the very nature of authenticity and whose influence can
be seen in the work of everyone from Jasper Johns to Beyoncé.
