"La condition humaine", is a 39 in x 32 oil on canvas painting by René Magritte in 1933. This painting shows a view of a canvas standing in front of a window. Outside the window you see a landscape and part of that landscape is depicted on the canvas. I believe that Magritte uses a technique to have the viewer question their reality. Meaning a painting of nature isn't always as accurate as it is in nature. No matter what you do as a painter, depicting the natural world is nearly impossible to paint because there's just so much to capture. Another point that Magritte tries to show his viewer is that whatever is depicted on the canvas might not exactly be behind it. An artist can add anything he wishes to add or replace anything with another. For example that tree on the canvas, is it really there? The artist creates an illusion by putting a tree on the canvas which makes us wonder. In human nature, what we tend to see is what we BELIEVE is correct, but is it? Magritte uses this technique in numerous of his paintings. The painting below "Euclidean Promenades" painted in 1955 is similar to "La condition humaine". Your eyes also tend to see the obvious but it may just be a misleading illusion.
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