Although the work of René Magritte is disquieting, ironic and poetic, it is rarely blatantly confrontational. In most of his work he pokes fun at reality. For example, The Balcony is not based on reality but on Edouard Manet’s painting, Le Balcon (Paris, Musée d’Orsay). Magritte’s painting is one of a series of works entitled Perspective. Each painting is a remake of an existing composition by Manet, Jacques-Louis David or François Gérard. In these compositions he replaces the figures with coffins.
