The book presents about seventy paintings, gouaches and drawings by René Magritte and includes interesting studies by international researchers such as Julie Waseige and Xavier Canonne both on the artist's poetics and art evolution. The volume's starting point is Magritte's lecture at the Royal Musée des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp held on 20 November 1938, today known as "La Ligne de vie" (Lifeline): it was through a series of examples that Magritte outlined the genesis of his art, endeavoring to define thirteen years of Surrealist painting. Yet, he refused to explain his works. This conference was one of the rare occasions in which the artist opened up to the public, clarifying his beginnings and the evolution of his painting until 1938, the period now recognized as the most representative of his entire career.0The book includes Magritte's masterpieces before and after this date, when their diffusion and notoriety became international. It contains his most famous paintings but also documents, book catalogs, musical scores and many photographs by Magritte himself and his fellow artists, along with screenshots of his films so as to give a broad overview on his entire artistic experience.00Exhibition: Masi Museo d'Arte della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland (16.09.2018-06.01.2019) / Amos Rex, Helsinki, Finland (07.02.-19.05.2019).