Rene Magritte's "Le Blanc-Seing (1965)": What it tells us about visual perception and the brain?

What is it about?

Perceptual "trickery"! A horse and rider pass through a stand of trees. But Magritte has "mined" the scene with surreal effects: a tree appears both behind and in front of the horse; background foliage jumps forward, seems to split the horse in two.

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Why is it important?

Careful analysis of this painting reveals how Magritte's manipulation of perceptual space creates striking, surreal effects. These reveal clues about how our visual brain works, how it identifies and segregates objects into a robust 3D scene. By violating the brain's "rules", Magritte evokes surreal effects, disortions of space and even solid objects, that provide clues about perception. Understanding how Magritte works his visual magic enhances our aesthetic appreciation of his striking art, what he liked to call his "visual poems".

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