Marcel Mariën

About

Marcel Mariën (1920–1993) was a Belgian surrealist artist, poet, essayist, photographer, collagist, filmmaker, and publisher, pivotal in the Belgian surrealist movement. Born in Antwerp to a Flemish father and Walloon mother, he discovered surrealism in 1935 through René Magritte's paintings. At 15, he apprenticed as a photographer but soon joined the surrealists after meeting Magritte in 1937, along with figures like Paul Nougé, Louis Scutenaire, and Paul Colinet. He participated in his first surrealist exhibition with the object 'L’Introuvable' made from broken glasses. During World War II, he was a prisoner of war, smuggled paintings between Brussels and Paris, and faced later controversy over alleged Nazi collaboration, though acquitted in 1973.

Surrealism with object-oriented assemblages and Situationist influences