The Kids of Love

The Lovers (1928), is an oil on canvas depicting two individuals locked in an embrace. The figures are kissing one another through veils. They are situated in a room with the back wall, side wall and ceiling showing. 
Frustrated desires are a common theme in Rene Magrittes work. Here, a barrier of fabric prevents the intimate embrace between two lovers, transforming an act of passion into one of isolation and frustration. 
Enshrouded faces were a common motif in Magrittes art. The artist was 14 when his mother committed suicide by drowning. He witnessed her body being fished from the water, her wet nightgown wrapped around her face. Some have speculated that this trauma inspired a series of works in which Magritte obscured his subjects faces. Magritte disagreed with such interpretations, denying any relation between his paintings and his mothers death. My painting is visible images which conceal nothing, he wrote, they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, What does it mean? It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.