Time Transfixed Essay, Research Paper

RENE MARGRITTE, TIME TRANSFIXED, 1938

Time transfixed by Rene Margritte is a surrealistic painting. By watching the painting

We see a very sharp and clear painting with dark colors close to the red. The painting look so real that fools the eye and the observer has the impression that it is a computer graphic and not a real painting. The composition it?s ruled by straight diagonal lines. But there are some vertical lines to break the monotony and to relax our eye. Our vision goes straight to the fireplace because it?s the only object on white and attracts our attention.

It is a strange composition. There is a fireplace and a train coming through it. It?s the train that travels through the time. But why come through the fireplace? That because is surrealistic. On the top of the fireplace are two candles. The candles are not lit. But the painting is illuminated by natural light coming from the right. The candles symbolize the knowledge. In meddle of two candles is a black watch showing 1 o?clock. The watch symbolizes time and the mystery of time! On the back is a mirror. It reflects only the shape of the candle and the watch and nothing else. There is void space on the mirror. That?s because the mirror symbolizes the mystery of the Universe and our ignorance for the mysteries that Universe hides and the forth dimension ?TIME?. By seeing the painting the observers has the impression that there is void space in the room too. The mirror and the fireplace, which looks like an empty box, give that impression. We don?t know if there is void space in the room because we see only a part of it.

There are also implied lines. It?s the painting line that goes from the left to the inside right and the light line that goes from right to inside left. Those lines meet together at an another horizontal line, which passes through the train and the watch. These lines give more focus to the train and the watch, which are the most important objects of the composition and describe ?TIME?