Albertina / Vienna

The Albertina is a museum in Vienna, and houses about 1 million master prints as well as modern graphic works, drawings, photographs, and architectural drawings. The Albertina also happens to be the first out of the many many art museums I've visited during my trip.

Luckily, the René Magritte temporary exhibition was on display when I visited. René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist who challenged the observer's perceptions of reality. He frequently displays a collection of ordinary objects in an unusual context, giving new meanings to familiar things. Magritte called this La trahison des images (The treachery of images). I suppose a good example would be his painting of a pipe, and written below it "Ceci n'est paus une pipe" ("This is not a pipe"). What Magritte meant to say was that while the image does depict a pipe, it does not give emotional satisfaction like a real pipe would.

Magritte sounds an artist who has a great sense of humor. When asked what his painting was, he replied, "Of course it's not a pipe, just try to fill it with tobacco!"

"My paintings are visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery, and indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, they ask themselves this simple question, 'What does that mean?'. It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable." 

...so don't try to figure out what it means, just let your imagination take over.