The following essay, perceptological in character, has a twofold goal: firstly, to show how the method devised by Magritte – which aims at making a thing visible – is grounded on the rules and the modalities of phenomenical giveness. Secondly, to suggest that the perceptual analysis of artworks sheds light on the nature of pictorial representation. Hence, the proposal is about the relationship between perception and image: one’s idea of perception guides the results of one’s theoretical enquiry. The present analysis is based on a phenomenological (experimental) approach, with a special attention for the Gestalt tradition and the notion of immediate experience. In sight of this, Magritte’s theoretical thought will be reprised without any pretension of exhaustiveness: we are just interested in his praxis, in his methodology. For this reason, our reflection on the phenomenical appearance of the thing will not take into account the Magrittes’ underlying metaphysics.
