Ceci n’est pas une pipe — Analysis
The surrealist painting ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe’, or ‘this is not a pipe’ is a painting made in 1929 by the very famous surrealist artist Rene Magritte. In the painting, there is a tobacco pipe painted and beneath it, there is a text stating ‘this is not a pipe’.The painting is known for its unusual technique of addressing its viewers something beyond what is actually there on the canvas. It is about the power of images and the relationship between texts and visuals.
this is what Magritte said about his painting:
The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it’s just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture “This is a pipe”, I’d have been lying!
— René Magritte
His point was that representations are not the real thing but they just resemble the real thing.
here in Rene Magritte cleverly addresses the power of visuals and the strong relationship between images and texts that made people think twice after seeing his painting.
The artist through his painting also bought in the concept of the semiotic gap between verbal and visual imagery.
Understanding it from Saussure’s point of view we could here see the relationship between the signifier which is the sound-image and the signified, the concept which comes into our mind. Here the signifier is both the oil painting of the pipe and the word ‘pipe’.Both are indicating towards the signified which is the actual pipe that could be filled up with tobacco, smoke, and light but both the word ‘pipe’ and the painting of a pipe is just a representation of a pipe and not the actual one. That is the power of signs.
From Pierce’s point of view, the representamen or signifier and the object or signified remains the same. In this case, the third part which is the interpretant comes into the picture. The interpretant is the idea of a wooden pipe or not just a wooden tool it is that sense that it represents a wooden tool that is the interpretant.
Rene Magritte in that sense is 100% correct by saying this is not a pipe nor the written word is a pipe. These are just signifiers and it is that power of texts and images that make us think twice.
REFERENCES:
“An Introduction To Semiotics — Signifier And Signified.” Vanseo Design, 29 Mar. 2016, https://vanseodesign.com/web-design/semiotics-signifier-signified/#:~:text=Saussure%20said%20the%20sign%20is,pipe%20that’s%20not%20a%20pipe.
Contributors to Wikimedia projects. “The Treachery of Images — Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 15 Oct. 2004, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images#/media/File:MagrittePipe.jpg.
