Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

A child sees before it learns to speak. Seeing enables an individual to relate to its environment. Words are used to explain the environment, but there is a gap between words and sight. Berger claims Magritte's painting "The Key of Dreams" comments on this gap. The painting is a four-pane window with a black background and a black and white image with white script words below in each pane. One might assume a relation between the image and the script. Underneath the image of a suitcase in one pane is written "the valise." However, below the image of a horse's head is "the door," under an image of a clock "the wind," and under a pitcher "the bird." Nothing suggests the title of the painting. Magritte paints in the Surrealist school which allows him more freedom of expression than Realism would...