Time Transfixed

painting by René Magritte

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July 16, 2026

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Time Transfixed is a 1938 painting by the Belgian Surrealist artist René Magritte. The artwork features a steaming locomotive suspended from the center of a mantelpiece in a middle-class sitting room, creating a bizarre and unsettling juxtaposition of ordinary objects in an unusual setting.1

Magritte was known for his peculiar imagery, often setting familiar objects in unexpected situations to evoke mystery and challenge viewers' perceptions of reality. His work frequently incorporated symbols like apples, bowler hats, and the human form, all used to create dreamlike and thought-provoking scenes. Time Transfixed exemplifies this style by presenting a powerful, industrial machine in the intimate space of a home, disrupting the viewer's sense of logic and time.1

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René Magritte
In Time Transfixed (1938), for example, a steaming locomotive is suspended from the center of a mantelpiece in a middle-class sitting room, looking as if it had just emerged from a tunnel. In Golconda (1953) bourgeois, bowler-hatted men fall like rain toward a street lined with…
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In Time Transfixed (1938), for example, a steaming locomotive is suspended from the center of a mantelpiece in a middle-class sitting room, looking as if it had just emerged from a tunnel. In Golconda (1953) bourgeois, bowler-hatted men fall like rain toward a street lined with…
Read More