Ocean by René Magritte, 1943.

In 1943, Magritte was seeking a new aesthetic that would counter-balance the misery of life in occupied Europe. He turned to the art of Pierre Auguste Renoir for inspiration. Ocean was among the first canvases that incorporated Magritte’s adopted style.

The scene is clearly based on Renoir’s Young Shepherd in Repose (1911).

Magritte replaced the young man with an older, bearded, hulking man – possibly an older version of the young shepherd. The youthful innocence of the boy’s interaction with the birds and also the flute are gone. Magritte’s man lays naked and exposed with a gigantic erection. However, the phallus is actually a nude woman with her had over her chest. The symbolism depicts the boy’s coming of age. His body has hardened from years of shepherding. His thoughts have turned from whimsical relaxation to lust.