RA: The Treachery Of Images (La trahison des images)

Rene Magritte's "The Treachery Of Images"

What are the consequences of focusing solely on traditional expressions of art on artistic freedom?
Enthymeme: Focusing solely on traditional expressions of art puts a strain on artistic freedom because limiting oneself strictly to representational painting presents an incomplete interpretation of the scope of art.
Implicit assumption: Anything that presents an incomplete interpretation of the scope of art will put a strain on artistic freedom.
Audience: Representational artists, or more broadly, any type of artist set on traditional methods.
Magritte in this painting has a representational painting of a pipe with the words “This is not a pipe” written in French, scrolling along the bottom. Magritte is right; it is not a pipe—it is a painting of a pipe. Instead of making an aesthetic piece of work, this piece is an artistic statement. He is asking the question of why some artists try to mimic three-dimensional objects. Paintings are essentially two-dimensional; they are paint on canvas. They are not people, or buildings, or baskets of fruit, and so he urges the viewer to celebrate that difference. It is a rational argument, and being an artist himself, he has some authority to make such an argument.