From a conversation between André Gomez and René Magritte, a Surrealist painter. The interview was conducted in Paris in 1948 for the Radio Suisse Romande and collected in René Magritte: Selected Writings, which was published this month by the University of Minnesota Press. Translated from the French by Jo Levy.

andré gomez: My dear Magritte, how did you get into painting?

rené magritte: Allow me to ask you: what do you mean by that question?

gomez: Well, the widest possible meaning, that is, How did you come to…