Date: 26-05-1992
Owning Institution:
Publication:   The Independent 1987 - 1999  
Subject: 20th Century    

Dreams of a little boy lost
From The Missing Dreams: Fragments from the Notebooks of Sigmund Freud (ed Amy Reknaw, Oedi-pus Press, 1992):

Here is another dream dealing with early trauma, which is characterised by the clarity of the manner in which it was recalled. It was told to me by a gentleman, to whom I shall refer only as R M, inhibited by his mother- complex.

He was going for a walk with his father, along the river Sambre next to his house (the dreamer, R M, is Belgian by origin). They came to a SUSPENSION BRIDGE curiously wreathed in mist, so that it seemed to stretch only half way across the river and peter out in mid-air. The dreamer's father crossed the bridge and he, too, seemed to disappear into thin air. R M walked on, passing many strange sights on the banks of the river: a MERMAID- like creature, but with the head of a fish and the legs of a woman; two CANDLES which, animated, crept along by the water like worms. He found himself alone in a starkly furnished room. Then he noticed he was not alone, but was with his mother, whom he had not seen for some years. She greeted him lovingly and he bent to kiss her, not as a son, but as a lover, only to find the kiss obstructed, since both their heads had become wrapped in integuments of GREY CLOTH.

ANALYSIS
This dreamer belonged to a type whose therapeutic prospects are not favourable: up to a certain point they offer little resistance to analysis, but from then on turn out to be almost inaccessible.

The suspension bridge is to be taken symbolically, especially in relation to the dreamer's father, who disappears along it. R M confided that he, a gentleman with artistic inclinations, had not always seen eye to eye with his father, a prosperous middle-class Belgian businessman. The dream-thought expressed is, so to speak, ''I have lost my father; he does not belong to my world, nor I to his.''

The strange sights, the mermaid and the candles like worms - an obvious image of sexual alienation (the candles are ''lost penises'', the dreamer himself suggested) - are all explained by the climax of the dream. During discussion of the dream, R M became extremely agitated, eventually bursting into tears. He then gave his own explanation of its symbolic meaning. His mother, he said, after many previous attempts at suicide, had finally succeeded in drowning herself in the River Sambre when he himself was just 13 years of age. When the body was found, after a period of some three weeks, her face was found to be covered by her nightdress. This is obviously the key to the meaning of the integuments of grey cloth that obscured the face of the dreamer and his mother in his dream. The cloth is both that which separates the dreamer, at the level of symbolism, from his mother, and also that which stands in for her: it is both the symbol of R M's loss, and the fetish by which he seeks to make good that loss.

R M spoke of many other dreams involving hidden or obscured faces, but none which had so disturbed him as this one. He recognises his mother-fixation, and its futility, but seems unable to make any progress beyond that recognition.

A strange spell in the weather
From the archives of the Belgian Meteorological Office:

Forecast: The weather will continue unsettling. Large banks of cumulus are expected to remain mo-tionless over western regions of the country while there will be sudden showers of dead birds in isolated areas. Large conurbations will experience mainly blue skies, giving way later in the day to sudden storms. Heavy precipitation of businessmen expected in Brussels and Ghent.
Outlook: A warm week, with long periods of intense and curiously troubling sunshine.

Mot froelink mist in garf: Le Decouverte du Feu
Well phrased

From An Old Belgic Primer: How to Speak the Ancient Language of Belgium, by Marie Tenterge (pub-lished by the University of Ghent Press, 1942):

Some Useful Phrases
Mot froelink mist in garf --- My tuba is on fire.
Hat klenner-moglik-engin stirkelt moder garfplats --- The miniature steam engine emerges through the fireplace.
Het stiglich fog jukt op glipleharnest --- The large egg is in the birdcage.
Harflich, gred, mag dip flester im narkle weim app! -- - Excuse me, sir, but your features are obscured by an apple!
Mig frolten ja rechen nag? --- Do you mind if I don't smoke?
Somdag moglit hig nodel im gart formel --- Someone appears to have left their nose in the formal gar-den.
Gark, dister weibo miglich cartig --- Waiter, this bottle of wine has turned into a carrot.

Travel to a foreign landscape
From the 1973 Helpful Holidays brochure, Discover Belgium!

Le Rocher (K 14): Sleeps up to 6, plus baby.

The perfect place to ''get away from it all''! Unusually located, Le Rocher is suspended just two miles above the village of Mittarge in the idyllic Hainaut region of Belgium. Access via hot air balloon. The accom-modation is light and airy, the main living area a spacious rocky plateau commanding breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside. Ideal for hang-gliding enthusiasts!!

Tractatus Imagistico-Philosophicus

From Previously Unpublished Manuscripts by Ludwig Wittgenstein (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1991):

The following extract consists of notes towards a section on ''image-language'', the original subject of propositions 297-300 of the 'Philosophical Investigations'. Wittgenstein retained proposition 297 as it stands here, but abandoned what follows.

297. Of course, if water boils in a pot, steam comes out of the pot and also pictured steam comes out of the pictured pot. But what if one insisted on saying that there must also be something boiling in the picture of the pot?

298. A painting, no matter how ''realistically'' painted, is no less conventional a sign than a word.

299. Suppose you imagine a canvas standing on an easel directly in front of a window, and suppose the picture on that canvas to be a picture of the same view that you see out of that window. The picture exactly overlaps the real scene. This might suggest to you that the painting is a less merely conventional and a more true likeness of ''the real world'' than an equivalent description in words. But might it not also suggest the opposite? Might it not suggest that ''the real world'' is as much a construction of the mind as ''the pictured world''?

300. The painter knows the fallibility of language in his own way. He recognises the treason of images. Imagine a painter who lets the viewer in, so to speak, on this treason. Imagine a painting of a smoker's pipe, to which the painter adds the caption ''this is not a pipe''. Or imagine a painting of four indistinguishable abstract shapes, each labelled differently: ''man'', ''horizon'', etc. Would the subject of such a painting not be the tenuousness of all signs, verbal and visual?

A quick and easy method to create your own Surrealism

From Rene and Georgette's Belgian Cookery Course (Pan Books, 1967):

TOILE SURREALE
Ingredients
1 medium sized canvas (you can buy these ready primed from most good art suppliers)
4 tablespoons drab domestic interior
4 oz assorted symbolic elements
2 fl oz northern light (you will find most Italian brands are simply too warm)
3 or 4 good-sized businessmen (ask the butcher to leave the heads on)
Finely chopped sentences for decoration

Method
First mix the light and interior well, until you have a smooth mixture, without any distracting lumps. Then apply to the canvas using swift dabbing brushstrokes to lay down an even background before applying your substantial motifs. This can be tricky for beginners but once you get the hang of it you'll find it second nature and your friends will be most impressed that you don't buy your Surrealism ready-made! You shouldn't be aiming for flourishes of paint or conspicuous technical skill by the way; as Rene says, ''I always try to make sure that the actual painting isn't noticed, that it is as little visible as possible.'' Put aside and allow to set at room temperature before adding your symbolic motifs and businessmen. There's no hard and fast rule here but it's best if you get a nice contrast in textures and taste. You can do a lot worse than follow Lautreamont's classic principle of ''the chance encounter of an umbrella and a sewing machine on a dissecting table''! Finally dress the resulting canvas with proper nouns, according to taste. A chilled bottle of Belgian Grattime, an instantly appealing wine but with a deceptively long finish, goes very well with this meal. Oh, and one last tip: hand-decorate that wine bottle, preferably with the figure of a naked woman. Enjoy!!!!

The User's Guide
From the Instructions for Use issued with The Magritte (Model 1928, Series I and II):

UNPACKING AND INSTALLATION
- Remove unit (A) from transport housing, ensuring that no loose packing material adheres to the image surface.
- Attach hanging wire (C) to the load-bearing cleats (D & F), which must be securely screwed to the blank side of the frame.
- Select a display area. Your Magritte will function at an angle or if laid horizontally, but best results will be obtained by placing it on a flat, vertical surface with at least four feet of clearance for observers.
- The site should not receive direct sunlight or be near any heat source such as an oven or radiator.
- Always hang level - tilting the frame will not increase your Magritte's disorienting effect.

CONNECTION
- Connect the unit only to a standard approved aesthetic sensibility. Some slight discomfort, even a mild shock, may be experienced. This indicates that the unit is functioning correctly.

TROUBLE-SHOOTING
Every care has been taken to ensure that your Magritte reaches you in perfect working order, but it is not possible to eliminate the possibility, however slight, of occasional malfunction. Before you call your dealer, check the following points:
- Your audience walks past the unit without comment - A fairly common problem due to multiple repro-ductions in other media. An explanation that your Magritte is an original and currently worth around pounds 1,500,000 should correct the problem. If you still have indifference difficulties, consult your dealer.
- You yourself find the unit dull after owning it for many years - This can be caused by the gradual de-pletion of the unit's charge over a period of time. The problem may be solved by storing the unit in a dark-ened room for a period of not less than three years. If this has no effect, consult your dealer; you might consider trading in your Magritte for a different model, perhaps from the 1963 Series.

WARNING
- Do not expose your Magritte to abrasive or caustic substances - eg. acidic cleaning compounds, fine art conservators, Brian Sewell.
- Do not place heavy objects on your Magritte.
- Your Magritte should not be used as a record-cover, cigarette advertisement or as the jacket illustra-tion to a collection of bizarre and enigmatic stories by a young Puerto Rican novelist. Over time this may lead to severe degradation of the aesthetic impact of the original.

Michelin man
From The Michelin Guide to London (revised edn, 1992):
The Hayward Gallery ***
Time: 1-1,000 hours.
The visit combines the pleasures of inspecting a seminal example of early English ''brutalist'' architec-ture, deep in the heart of London's ''South Bank'' and close to the River Thames, with the artistic joys of the treasures shown on its walls.

A Bit of History
Sylvester's achievement: David Sylvester, the art historian and curator, was largely responsible for the extraordinary gathering of works of art in this building, and the unusual design of the galleries in which they are shown. The works consist of the paintings and sculptures of the Belgian Surrealist artist Rene Magritte (1898-1967). The design of the galleries is famous and unusual: a traditional church- like setting, complete with nave and side chapels, has been devised for the works of a most typically ''modern'' artist.

The Galleries ***
The circuit of rooms offers a comprehensive survey of the paintings of the most important Surrealist artist. The visit progresses naturally from the early rooms, which show Magritte's youthful flirtation with the styles of early modern art, such as Cubism and Futurism, to the later rooms which contain many examples of his most inventive Surrealist paintings, sculptures and objects, such as The Rape ***, Magritte's famous picture of a woman's face constructed from her erogenous zones (those with young children may wish to skip Room F, which contains this picture). Admire the vigour and freedom of this great artist's imagination. Particularly worth a detour are the chapels on the upper floors *** containing Magritte's paintings of 1926-8, including The Meaning of Night and The Discovery. The gallery shop * sells a wide variety of ''Magritte mer-chandise'', including a number of T-shirts with witty slogans such as ''This is not a Magritte'', which refers to one of the artist's best- loved pictures.