The Human Condition《人類的境況》

愛藝

Two of Magritte’s favored themes were the “window painting” and the “painting within a painting.” The Human Condition is one of Magritte’s earliest treatments of either subject， and in it he combines the two， making what may be his most subtle and profound statement of their shared meaning.

The Human Condition displays an easel placed inside a room and in front of a window. The easel holds an unframed painting of a landscape that seems in every detail contiguous with the landscape seen outside the window. At first， one automatically assumes that the painting on the easel depicts the portion of the landscape outside the window that it hides from view. After a moment’s consideration， however， one realizes that this assumption is based upon a false premise： that is， that the imagery of Magritte’s painting is real， while the painting on the easel is a representation of that reality. In fact， there is no difference between them. Both are part of the same painting， the same artistic fabrication. It is perhaps to this repeating cycle， in which the viewer， even against his will， sees the one as real and the other as representation， that Magritte’s title makes reference.

Magritte’s use of the curtain in this picture invoked a device that had been employed by a number of the Old Masters as a trompe-l’oeil1 way of drawing the viewer into the composition， pointing to the artifice of the scene， and also showcasing their own ability to paint something as lifelike as the drapery hanging in front of a picture; this was the case， for example， in The Art of Painting and The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer2. Magritte’s play with the nature of the picture surface was given great scope by his use of similar devices， be it in the stage curtain of The Human Condition.

馬格利特最喜歡的兩個主題是“窗戶畫”和“畫中畫”。《人類的境況》一畫是馬格利特對這兩個主題最早的呈現之一。他在此畫中將二者加以組合，表達它們共有的含義，這可能是他對此所做的最微妙也最深刻的一次呈現。

《人類的境況》描繪了放置在屋內、窗前的一個畫架。畫架上擱著一幅無框風景畫，風景畫的每一處細節似乎都與窗外的風景相連。起初，觀者會自然而然地認為，畫架上的畫描繪的是看不到的那部分窗外風景;然而，片刻思考后就會意識到，最初的想法是基于一個錯誤的前提，即馬格利特畫中的意象是真實的，而畫架上的畫是對那個真實意象的再現。事實上，它們之間沒有區別。兩者都屬于同一幅畫，是同一項藝術創作的一部分。在這一往復循環中，即使不愿意，觀者也會將一個視為真實存在，另一個視為藝術再現——馬格利特為此畫所起的標題或許談論的正是這種循環。

馬格利特在這幅畫中對窗簾的運用令人想起一些早期繪畫大師用以吸引觀者的視錯覺畫法，既點明了畫中場景的巧妙設置，也展示了自己的繪畫能力——逼真呈現繪畫對象，就像這塊窗簾真的掛在一幅畫前。比如，這樣的畫法在約翰內斯·維米爾的《繪畫藝術》和《戴珍珠耳環的少女》中也可以看到。通過采用類似畫法，馬格利特處理畫面性質時得到了很大的發揮空間，《人類的境況》中舞臺幕布般的窗簾清楚顯示了這一點。