Belgium celebrates ‘year of Magritte’ with art exhibits

Belgium kicked off a “year of Magritte” Wednesday, marking the 50th anniversary of the Surrealist artist Rene Magritte’s death with a series of events, including a major art exhibit in Brussels.

Homage to the artist will however not be limited to the Magritte Museum, which counts 300,000 visiters a year.

In September, some of the artist’s most iconic works including “The Lovers” — featuring a man and a woman kissing, their faces draped in cloth — and his self-portrait “The Son of Man”, will be displayed in the Belgian capital’s futuristic Atomium building.

Born in 1898 in the western town of Lessines in French-speaking Belgium, Magritte was a major figure of the Surrealism movement. He died in 1967.