French caption “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” Symbolism

A linguistic sign that denies identity between word/image and object, asserting conceptual distance.

Common Themes

Tricksterism & transgressionMimesis vs. abstraction (truth vs. artifice)Medium reflexivity (art about art)Originality, authorship, and appropriationThe double/doppelgängerLeisure & recreation

Artworks Featuring This Symbol

This is Not a Pipe by Rene Magritte

This is Not a Pipe

Rene Magritte (1929)

A crisply modeled tobacco pipe hovers over a blank beige field, while the cursive line "Ceci n’est pas une pipe" coolly denies what the eye assumes. The clash between image and sentence turns a familiar object into a <strong>thought experiment</strong> about signs and things. Magritte’s deadpan exactitude and ad‑like layout stage a <strong>philosophical trap</strong>: you can see a pipe, but you cannot smoke this picture. <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup>