The photograph taken by Lothar Wolleh in Brussels in 1967 is a striking black and white image of Rene Magritte. The image captures Magritte standing in front of one of his artworks, a painting that portrays a man in a suit with his face obscured by a floating bowler hat. The composition of the photo cleverly aligns Magritte with the painted figure, creating a visual pun typical of the surrealist artist’s work.
In the photograph, Rene Magritte is wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and a dark tie. He stands squarely in front of the painting, a self-portrait, positioned so that his head is visually replaced by the painted floating hat in the artwork behind him. The painted figure is also wearing a similar suit, and the alignment is such that it almost seems as if Magritte’s headless figure continues into the painting, with the bowler hat completing the image. There’s a stark contrast between the light-colored wall, the dark picture frame, and the subjects within the frame, including Magritte himself and the self-portrait. The photograph is a play on identity and reality, themes that are common in Magritte’s art.