The Son of Man

René Magritte completed this self-portrait in 1964, showing a man in a bowler hat and overcoat standing before a low wall with the sea behind him. A hovering green apple obscures most of his face, leaving only hints of his eyes visible at the edges. The title references the biblical phrase while subverting expectations of religious iconography.

Magritte described the painting as illustrating the conflict between the visible and the hidden. Everything we see, he suggested, hides something else, and we always want to see what is hidden by what we see. The bowler hat and suit represent bourgeois conformity, a recurring motif in his work, while the apple prevents us from fully knowing the man behind it.

The painting belongs to a private collection and is not regularly on public display. Its iconic status comes partly from its frequent reproduction and influence on popular culture, from film to advertising. The work exemplifies Surrealist ideas about reality and perception.