Artwork · 1964 · Portrait
The Son of Man
1964 · Oil on Canvas
Private collection
★ 7.5 editorial score
A man in a dark overcoat and bowler hat stands before a low wall and the sea, but his face is hidden behind a large green apple hovering in front of it - present yet concealed. Rene Magritte called it a kind of self-portrait, noting our constant urge to see what is hidden and the tension between the visible and the concealed. Now in a private collection, the Son of Man is among his most famous images - the anonymous bowler-hatted everyman, his identity blocked by a floating apple, a witty, enigmatic meditation on hiddenness and the limits of sight.
