René Magritte was a Belgium surrealist artist known for his strange placement of non-deformed, everyday objects. Rather than morphing the objects as many surrealist artists did, such as Dalí's melting clocks, Magritte preserved each object's characteristics, but arranged them in uncharacteristic ways.
About the painting, Magritte said:
At least it hides the face partly. Well, so you have the apparent face, the apple, hiding the visible but
hidden, the face of the person. It's something that happens constantly. Everything we see hides another
thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see. There is an interest in that which is hidden and
which the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of a quite intense feeling, a sort of
conflict, one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present.
Magritte shows realism in the characteristics of individual objects. By observing the bricks behind the man, one can determine that the piece is painted in one-point perspective. The painting is nearly symmetrical, except for the overlap of the coat and the odd bend of the man's left arm. The background is so simple, obviously meant to not draw attention from the man, that one may consider the piece somewhat minimalistic. Magritte's use of shadows and highlights bring out the realism in the man's hands, coat, hat, and face. The apple hangs, impossibly, in mid-air, hiding the man's face and lending a sense of mystery to the piece. The apple also serves as the aspect which makes this piece surreal. The background of the piece is almost completely painted using cool colors, and the middle ground is almost monochromatic with shades of gray. The lines of the man's coat draws the viewer's attention up to the apple, which shades the face and serves as the focal point. The vivid shade of green of the apple also illuminates it as the main aspect of the piece.
