The Listening Room

Infobox Painting|

backcolor=#FBF5DF
painting_alignment=right
image_size=300px
title=The Listening Room
artist=René Magritte
year=1953
type=Oil on canvas
height=45
width=55
height_inch=18
width_inch =22
diameter_cm =
diameter_inch =
city=
museum=San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

"La Chambre d'Écoute" (1953) or better known by its English title, "The Listening Room" is an oil on canvas painting by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte.

The painting depicts an apple in a tiny room with one window. An apple has also been seen in his painting "The Son of Man".

Another version by Magritte was painted, featuring a gray-brick walled room, keeping the giant apple.

Magritte tended to deal with a kind of cerebral and literal absurdity. This distinguishes him from an artist like Salvador Dalí, for example, who was called a Surrealist because of the way he channeled fantastical dream imagery onto the canvas. [ [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/masterscans/l60.html Artcyclopedia - The Listening Room] ]

Cultural references

A reproduction of the painting has been used for the album cover of "Beck-Ola (Cosa Nostra)" by The Jeff Beck Group.

References