This is a very famous French surrealist painting. The French literally means “this is not a pipe”. It’s by Rene Magritte, who is trying to alert us to the fact that this is merely a representation of a pipe - not an actual one. I know it might seem a bit pretentious to us now, but at the time, it was pretty ground-breaking stuff.
This painting, and indeed French surrealism, is one of my favourite things about European modernism, even though I’m not a visual artist by training. It’s playful, absurd, and just downright crazy. But it reminds me that art can be fun.
More information? The Wikipedia link to Magritte is a pretty good start.
