SYDNEY.- The first Australian blockbuster of groundbreaking and beloved Belgian surrealist René Magritte (1898–1967) takes centre stage at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney this summer, with a rich and wide-ranging selection of works featuring the iconic motifs of bowler hats, clouds, pipes and apples that are now indelibly part of visual culture.

Opening tomorrow, exclusive to Sydney as part of the Sydney International Art Series 2024–25, Magritte features more than 100 works from across the world – most of which have never been seen in Australia. In addition to more than 80 paintings, the exhibition also includes examples of the artist's fascinating experiments with publishing, film and photography.

Organised chronologically, Magritte takes visitors on a journey through more than four decades of the artist’s work – from his early avant-garde explorations and commercial works in the 1920s to his groundbreaking contributions to surrealism, his provocative works of the 1940s, and the celebrated paintings of his final years. Throughout the exhibition audiences will encounter works that underscore Magritte’s profound influence on modern and contemporary art, while also discovering lesser-known aspects of his practice that reveal his subversive sense of humour and fierce independence.

Exhibition highlights include paintings that visitors will recognise as among the most instantly familiar images of surrealism, including The lovers 1928, The false mirror 1929, The human condition 1933, The liberator 1947, The kiss 1951, Golconda 1953, The dominion of light 1954 and The listening room 1952. The exhibition is presented in the centenary year of the publication of the Manifesto of surrealism (1924) and provides an opportunity to reflect on one of the most enduring art movements of the modern period and to consider its lasting impact today.

The Art Gallery has developed the exhibition with the close collaboration of the Magritte Foundation, Brussels, and in cooperation with the Menil Collection, Houston, which is home to the most comprehensive Magritte collection outside Europe. The exhibition also features loans from numerous public collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels; Musée d’Ixelles, Brussels; Kawamura DIC Museum of Art, Sakura; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; as well as works from numerous important private collections, many of which have never been seen outside Europe.

Magritte is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW’s Blockbusters Funding initiative and its tourism and major events agency, Destination NSW. The exhibition is presented as part of the Sydney International Art Series 2024–25 alongside the Art Gallery’s upcoming summer blockbuster Cao Fei: My City is Yours (opens 30 November).

Minister for the Arts, Music and the Night-time Economy, and Minister for Jobs and Tourism John Graham said: ‘René Magritte is one of the most recognised and influential artists of modern times. I’m pleased that art lovers will be able to enjoy his incredible work in Sydney this summer.

‘With Cao Fei, also at the Art Gallery, and Julie Mehretu at the MCA, the three exhibitions in the Sydney International Art Series 2024–25 program reflect our ambition to ensure Sydney is a global cultural hub where art and creativity is celebrated – a place where locals and visitors can experience the most exciting and cutting-edge cultural offerings from around Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and the world,’ said Minister Graham.

Art Gallery of New South Wales director Dr Michael Brand said: ‘Many years in the making and drawing upon our unsurpassed international network of collaborative partners, Magritte considers the towering artist’s innovative contributions to the broader surrealism movement, while also highlighting the uniqueness and individuality of his artistic vision.

‘Fundamental to this exhibition is our anticipation to share not only the well-known paintings you would expect to see in a Magritte retrospective but also to shine a light on some surprising aspects of his artistic output, particularly from the period when the artist, working from occupied Belgium during and immediately after the Second World War, created some of the most intriguing and subversive paintings of his career,’ said Brand.

Exhibition curator and Art Gallery of New South Wales senior curator of modern and contemporary international art Nicholas Chambers said: ‘Magritte was ahead of his time. He saw himself as a “painter of ideas” and his legacy extends far beyond the world of art. Today we find his work echoed in diverse creative fields, from fiction and philosophy to cinema and advertising. We can imagine his delight at the ways in which his images continue to circulate and take on new meanings in the 21st century.’

The exhibition is accompanied by a beautiful publication that features reproductions of the works on display, as well as essays by curators and experts on surrealism that consider Magritte’s capacity for innovation and reinvention, the social and artistic context of his practice, and his remarkable use of the absurd. Contributors to the catalogue include Xavier Canonne, Nicholas Chambers, Natalie Dupêcher, Tai Spruyt and Julie Waseige.