The Lovers by Rene

 Rene Magritte served in the Belgian Infantry for a short time, and worked at a wallpaper company  before he began to paint. He made his living producing advertising posters in a business he ran with his brother, where he also created forgeries of Picasso, Braque and Chirico. His experience with forgeries also allowed him to create false bank notes during the German occupation of Belgium in World War II, helping him to survive the lean economic times.

Magritte’s mother was a suicidal woman, which led her husband, Magritte’s father, to lock her up in her room. One day, she escaped, and was found down a nearby river dead, having drowned herself. History asserts that 13 year old Magritte was there when they retrieved the body from the river. As she was pulled from the water, her dress covered her face. This became a theme for Magritte’s paintings in the 1920s, portrayals of people with cloth covering their faces.