marcel Mariën

Born in Antwerp in 1920, Marcel Mariën became a central figure in the Belgian Surrealist movement. At the age of 15, he began an apprenticeship with a photographer, and in 1937, inspired by the works of René Magritte, he joined the Brussels Surrealist group. A versatile artist, Mariën expressed himself through poetry, essays, collage, filmmaking, photography, and the creation of objects. In 1943, he published the first monograph on Magritte and, in 1954, founded the journal Les Lèvres Nues, later directing Le Ciel Bleu and contributing significantly to the documentation of Belgian Surrealism. In 1959, he created the provocative film L’Imitation du cinéma, which caused scandal and was banned. After a period abroad, including time spent in China in the 1960s, he returned to surrealist photography in the 1980s, producing striking, dreamlike nude portraits until his death in Brussels in 1993.