If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream.

Meaning of the quote

The quote suggests that our dreams and our waking lives are connected. Just as our dreams can be seen as a reflection or interpretation of our daily lives, our daily lives are also like a reflection or interpretation of our dreams. This means that the line between our dreams and our real lives is not as clear as we might think - they influence and shape each other in important ways.

About Rene Magritte

Rene Francois Ghislain Magrittewas a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and boundaries of reality and representation. His imagery has influenced pop art, minimalist art, and conceptual art.

More about the author

More quotes from Rene Magritte

Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.

Rene Magritte

Belgian painter and sculptor (1898-1967)

Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.

Rene Magritte

Belgian painter and sculptor (1898-1967)

Only thought can resemble. It resembles by being what it sees, hears, or knows; it becomes what the world offers it.

Rene Magritte

Belgian painter and sculptor (1898-1967)

The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.

Rene Magritte

Belgian painter and sculptor (1898-1967)

The present reeks of mediocrity and the atom bomb.

Rene Magritte

Belgian painter and sculptor (1898-1967)

We must not fear daylight just because it almost always illuminates a miserable world.

Rene Magritte

Belgian painter and sculptor (1898-1967)

Life obliges me to do something, so I paint.

Rene Magritte

Belgian painter and sculptor (1898-1967)

To be a surrealist means barring from your mind all remembrance of what you have seen, and being always on the lookout for what has never been.

Rene Magritte

Belgian painter and sculptor (1898-1967)

If the dream is a translation of waking life, waking life is also a translation of the dream.

Rene Magritte

Belgian painter and sculptor (1898-1967)

My painting is visible images which conceal nothing… they evoke mystery and indeed when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question ‘What does that mean’? It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.

Rene Magritte

Belgian painter and sculptor (1898-1967)