“The Glass Key,” created by René Magritte in 1959 in Brussels, Belgium, is an oil painting on canvas that exemplifies the Surrealist art movement. The painting, measuring 162 by 129.5 centimeters, is categorized as a symbolic painting and is currently housed in the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, USA.
The artwork presents a surreal landscape dominated by towering, rugged mountains, their peaks etched in sharp relief. Floating paradoxically above the expanse of mountainous terrain is a large, irregularly-shaped boulder, suspended mid-air despite the evident force of gravity. The scene is rendered in meticulous detail, with a starkly realistic style that heightens the sense of uncanny and otherworldly. The serene blue sky stretching behind the mountains adds to the surreal tranquility of the composition, typical of Magritte’s ability to provoke thought and challenge perceptions through juxtapositions of the impossible with the mundane.
