Ceci N'est Pas Google

You may have noticed that Google's masthead is different today. That, in and of itself, isn't noteworthy; Google routinely changes their masthead to celebrate a variety of holidays -- recognized or not -- and sometimes just on a whim. But if you're wondering about today's masthead design with the iconic green apple and man in a bowler hat, let Houstonist illuminate you.

Today would be the 110th birthday of the famous Belgian Surrealist painter René Magritte. Born in Lessines on November 21st, 1898, Magritte is well known for his sly, humorous paintings, which incorporated pop culture references long before the Independent Group or Andy Warhol. The Treachery of Images, arguably Magritte's most famous and influential work, was simply an advertisement style image of a pipe with the French words underneath: Ceci n'est pas une pipe. Translated: This is not a pipe, a paradox which remains both thought-provoking and amusing.

Google's masthead today is a redesign of another of Magritte's paintings, Golconda, which would later influence the more famous The Son of Man. In Golconda, we see a torrential downpour of identical and nondescript men in overcoats and bowler hats -- ubiquitous men's clothing items in 1953 -- raining down onto an equally nondescript cityscape. It was his commentary on what he viewed as the general lack of individuality and creativity in society at the time, a period about which Magritte remarked, "The present reeks of mediocrity and the atom bomb.”

Golconda is housed right here in Houston, at the Menil Collection, along with many other masterworks from the Surrealist movement and others. At the Menil, you can see works by Matisse, Picasso, Duchamp, Pollack, and Rothko and -- best of all -- it's all free. So why not drop by the Menil this weekend for a little impromptu birthday party for René Magritte? Just leave the cake at the door.