magritte

Rene Magritte at the Baker Museum in Naples

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René Magritte might not be a household name, even though you might have his iconic Ceci n’est pas une pipe print hanging in your room or have seen his images many times.

Magritte (1898-1967) was a Belgian surrealist painter known for his amusing but ingenious surrealism, the body of a man in a suit with an apple for a head, the pipe painting, and so on.

On a recent trip to Naples (the Florida one), I had a bit of time in between meeting friends, so I snuck into the Baker Museum (which I write about here).

The Magritte exhibition was admittedly small, with just half a dozen paintings sandwiched inside a much bigger exhibition about the Everglades and its environment. But it was still worthwhile and beautiful to sit down for a while and contemplate these paintings that make you think about the metaphysical.

Magritte: Reflections of Another World comprises six paintings — five oils and one gouache — by Belgian artist René Magritte (1898-1967). Renowned for his witty Surrealist paintings of everyday objects in strange surroundings, Magritte preferred that his artworks remain mysterious and open to interpretation. These works are from the collection of Jean Van Parys, a collector of avant-garde art and a close friend of Magritte, and they are on a five-year loan to Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum from Van Parys’ daughter. The paintings have never previously been shown in North America, and none have exhibited publicly in over 48 years. Baker Museum

The Baker Museum in Naples (Florida)

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With money to spend and absolutely no culture to be had (other than Tampa/St. Pete -like the Dali Museum to the North or Miami, the Perez Museum has an important 20th and 21st C art collection to the East), the rich folks of Naples decided to buy culture. Naples, a retirement village for wealthy Midwesterners bought a phenomenal Symphony, and they built Artis Naples as a space to hold the Philharmonic and The Baker Art Museum,

There are many mentions here on the importance of friendship and mentoring, so I will not write about going to Naples (Florida) to visit my old colleague, boss, and friend Edu, and my old student Lukas. But I have never dedicated a post to the Baker Museum in Naples. Voilà:

I recently crossed Florida on the ecological disaster that is Alligator Alley -the highway connecting East and West Florida while cutting the flow of water that is the “River of Grass” that is the Everglades (read about that here).

With a bit of time before meeting Edu, I went back to the Baker Museum, the small but exquisite art museum in Naples.

When I visited there was a great exhibition on Andy Warhol -which is not hard since most of his work were silkscreens which were produced in considerable numbers. Another great exhibit was on the composer George Gershwin and his relationship with artists in other media, mostly photographers and the visual arts including Modigliani. There was a small exhibition on Magritte and his surrealism, and finally, there was art from all the local schools. This last exhibition, on the top floor of the museum was packed with all the children/artists and their parents.

It was great to return to this museum and to get my fix of beauty and art. If you are in Southwest Florida and you have a bit of time to kill, visit the Baker Museum.