Rene Magritte
Painter
Belgian surrealist painter whose best-known works included "The Empire of Light" and "The Treachery of Images." His first surreal painting was "The Lost Jockey" from 1926, which was initially pilloried by critics.
He began taking art lessons in 1910 at the age of 12. He first employed an Impressionistic style in his 1915 paintings, but following a disappointing period of education at Brussels' Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, he embraced Futurism and Cubism.
He questioned preconceived perceptions through his surrealist art.
His father was a Belgian textile merchant and tailor, and his mother committed suicide when Magritte was 14 years old. She was found with her dress covering her face, something that may have influenced him to depict people with cloths over their faces in such paintings as "Les Amants" from the 1927 to 1928 period.
He and Salvador Dali were both their surrealist painters.