"The Lovers II", also known as "Les Amants" is a surrealistic painting made by a Belgian artist René Magritte in Paris in 1928 [oil on canvas, 54cm x 73,4cm]. The painting shows two people possibly standing in some kind of room and kissing. But what is so special in that scene?
As you can see, their heads are covered with a white material. This represents a distance or some kind of mystery that is hidden between lovers and a viewer. Also it can represent that the titular Lovers can not truly get to know each other. If you have seen other paintings by René Magritte you may have noticed, that often he painted people with theyr heads covered with material (ecpecialy in paintings made in 1927-1928). But why?
Well, unfortunetly we don't know the answer for this question for sure, because the painter rarely (if ever) explained his inspirations regarding this subject. But we can assume that this is because of what happened in his childhood. When the artist where a child he observed as his mother suffer with severe depression, she tried to take her own life many times. On february 24, 1912, she unfortunately managed to do so. Her body was found in the Sambre river, on march 12. It is said that when his mother was found, her head was covered with her dress. These events are probably the reason for the way he depicted people in his paintings.
What do you think about this painting? Do you like it? Or do you think it's too disturbing? Maybe you're into a different style of art than surrealism? Do you know any other theories or studies about the origin of the artist's inspiration for this type of painting? Share your opinion in the comments.