The Return of the Flame - René Magritte

A 1943 oil painting by René Magritte featuring the masked figure of Fantômas looming over a city. This work belongs to Magritte's Renoir period and uses a warm colour palette.

René Magritte painted The Return of the Flame in 1943 during the German occupation of Belgium. This period marked a departure from his earlier Surrealist style. He adopted a technique inspired by Impressionism and the late works of Pierre-Auguste Renoir. This phase is often called his "période solaire" or "Renoir period". Magritte used this aesthetic to provide a sense of optimism during the hardships of the Second World War. The composition features Fantômas, a fictional criminal mastermind from French pulp fiction. Magritte was fascinated by this character and included him in several paintings. The figure wears a black mask and a top hat. He is dressed in a formal tuxedo. He is depicted as a giant striding over a city. The buildings below are small and sketched with loose brushwork. Fantômas holds a single yellow rose in his right hand. The background consists of intense red and orange tones. These colours suggest a sky filled with fire or a sunset. The brushwork is visible and textured. This differs from the smooth surfaces found in Magritte's later paintings. The scale of the figure creates a sense of the uncanny. The city appears vulnerable beneath the large, masked man. The city below includes architectural details like bridges and spires. These are rendered in dark, earthy tones that contrast with the sky. The yellow rose provides a small point of light against the darker suit of the figure. Magritte often used objects like roses and masks to disrupt the viewer's expectations. In this instance, the rose adds a layer of mystery to the character of Fantômas. The application of paint is thick and expressive. This approach was controversial among other Surrealists at the time. They preferred the precise clarity of Magritte's earlier work. However, Magritte insisted that this style was a necessary response to the world around him. This painting is an example of his experimental phase during the 1940s.