Initial response: Firstly, the reason behind choosing this piece was not due to my knowledge on the artist but my appeal on what Magritte had created. I found it distinct and creative as Magritte called this a self-portrait but it did not portray much of himself visually. Which enabled me to be curious about what he was implying through the piece rather than just a formal man in a suit, bowler hat, a green apple face and a slight part of the eyes in sight. It was relevant to what I would create later on as I wanted to do something untypical and original, with a twist and hidden meaning to who I was or the person I would be portraying. My first reaction or thought to this piece was wow this is extremely new and distinct, I had never seen something alike to it. Its so simple yet mesmerising. I noticed the man and gloomy background first, which lastly brought my attention to the apple. It drew my attention much more than the rest as it was out of space in terms that no one was holding it up or there were no apple trees nearby. It was just there, felt more figurative than anything to me. The piece overall did not remind me of any experience or memory except for seeing business men and the fact that the shade of green the apple was painted in was very familiar. This may be because the artist specifically used a common green apple colour. On the other hand, this piece made me feel a couple strong emotions. The first was that I saw sadness, through the colours used, the uniform and the mans position made me feel extremely sad. This may change once I learn the true story behind it or get deeper. Along with that it also gave me a sense of creativity, as it was so diverse that I felt the importance of originality. 

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Contextual Understanding: The artist René Magritte was born in Belgium in November 21, 1898 and raised there with his family which was his mother, father and two bothers whom appeared to be both younger than Magritte. Within his childhood, according to many sources Magritte had two significant events that took place. The first was his first physical accidental meeting with an artist in a cemetery, this developed his thought and perception of creating and how to create art. The artist's name was not mentioned. The second event was the unfortunate suicide of his mother when Magritte was just fourteen. In which he created many pieces based on the trauma when he was much order, a famous one used on the cover of Livaneli's book. From then on, not much of his life was recorded until he was seventeen and started painting. He was enrolled at school in Brussels named 'Académie des Beaux-Arts'. After he graduated in 1921 from the school and completed mandatory military, he returned home and got married with his childhood female friend. In 1922 he started working at a wallpaper creation factory but then resigned to join the 'Galerie le Centaure' in Brussels for the job of designing publicity forms of art such as posters and so on. After his experience there he moved to Paris, France in 1927 and stayed there for three years in which he met many surrealism artists of his time. He started making his own art and returned home in 1930 where he continued his career through creating pieces people found marvellous yet hidden in a peculiar manner. 

Now that I have  understood some minimal parts of life before, I was able to apply that to the personal context of his art. For example due to his visits to Paris and cultivated areas within that time frame, Magritte was able to create forms of imagination and figurative images in his art which was a form of Surrealism. This may be why most his art is this boundary of style. Also, the trauma he received from his mother may be why he was frequently making several copies of one painting, many articles said this may be a connection with the psychological trauma he was still receiving from the death. His time in the publicity department may have been why most of his self-portraits incorporate suits and men in bowler hats such as in the one we are analysing. It may have been to signify a time frame of his life where he was one and surrounded by those men. When applying some of what was said to a wider context, if Magritte had not be travelling and born within his specific time frame, his art may have not included surrealism which was a new concepts that had become popular then. Although Magritte used methods that were not trendy but more original, he was making hidden messages through this method using surrealism. 

I believe the artist is trying to communicate his own life through peculiar hidden messages in his art in a form of surrealism. For example not just self-portraits but there were wide examples of paintings of his wife, apartment and much more. Each including a different moral. One of his famous statements recorded was 'Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.”

Formal Elements: 

• Name of Artist: René Magritte

• Name of Piece: 'The son of man' self-portait

• Date: 1964

• Location: Belgium

• Materials: Canvas, Oil paints

• Size: 116 cm x 89 cm

• Objects in painting: Sky, brick wall, sea, man in suit and hat & hovering green apple

• Focal point: Man & Apple

• Interesting fact: right elbow is twisted round

• Mood: Gloomy, sad, grey, anger, guilt

• Shapes: Man looks realistic and three dimensional through tone and shading. Apple and leaves have different shades, sphere shape and colours to enable realism which is ironic as the apple is floating. Apple is big as face, out of proportion. 

• Space: Man is up close and is the largest object within the painting. There are lots of blank colour space enabling it to be not a busy painting

• Pattern: Brick pattern on the wall, repetition of blocks.

• Texture: No vivid brush strokes, looks real through the perfect consistency but the overall concept of the image enables it to be more surrealistic. 

• Colour: Dominant sad colours such as different shades of blues and greys. Reflecting the sadness or gloom the artist was trying to portray. In the middle of all the gloom is a big pop of green as the apple floats in the middle of the mans face to the point where only eyes or showing, this enables to highlight the object rather than camouflage. A sense of change within the sadness maybe a hint of hidden happiness even though most the time green signifies envy. 

• Composition: The whole painting is symmetrical. The sky, sea and brick wall are all in line and straight the body and apple are too. A sense of perfection.

• Note: Common usage in Magritte's paintings are the apple and bowler hat. 

Subject matter: This is a self-portrait that is in some way a representation of the artist Rene Magritte as he himself calls the painting a self-portrait. His comment on the painting depicted that when something is hidden from us we try to find it through the present starting a conflict between what is visually present and visually unpresent, which is the face of the man in this position. The real question is how is this related to a depiction of the self of the artist within the portrait? It shows the connection that Magritte was perceived to be a symmetrical, perfect and normal on the surface as the image depicts. But there is a deep part of him that is hidden, which is alike to the apple hiding his face excluding part of the eyes. This may become a conflict with who he truly is and the surface. That what you see is not everything of Magritte. This is the depiction and emotional point of 'is like' showing the artist, that there is more and this creates anger on both sides.