How 'Alice in Wonderland' Influenced Magritte: From Cheshire Cat to Growing Potion

René Magritte (1898-1967) is one of the best known and most prominent artists of Surrealism, but the general public is perhaps oblivious to what inspired the Belgian to paint paintings such as

or

Guillermo Solana, curator of the Thyssen Museum exhibition

warns about this in this video

“We talk a lot about the surrealists, their images, but many times we ignore what is behind them”. Solana explains that the Belgian drank a lot from

Lewis Carroll's book, to create his work. In the

collection

For example, the eyes and mouth suspended over a landscape are reminiscent of the Cheshire cat's ability to appear and disappear; just like the large stone that occupies a room in

it resembles the passage in which Alice takes a potion that allows her to grow into a giant. These works can be seen from Tuesday September 14 to January 30 at the art center.