Which artist painted 'The Lovers' (Les Amants)?

Which artist painted “The Lovers” (Les Amants)? René Magritte painted The Lovers in Paris in 1928.

The painting shows two figures kissing while white cloth covers their heads and faces. That simple obstruction turns an intimate gesture into an image of distance, concealment and frustration. It is a characteristically Magrittean disruption: an ordinary scene becomes mysterious because a familiar action is made impossible to complete normally.

The 1928 work is the first of four related paintings known as The Lovers. The version most often reproduced is an oil on canvas now held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Other variations, including The Lovers II, are in different collections and share the concealed faces and dreamlike atmosphere.

A persistent story connects the covered faces with Magritte’s mother, who died by suicide when he was young and was reportedly found with fabric around her face. That explanation has often been repeated, but there is no firm evidence that the event directly inspired this series. Other interpretations emphasize the impossibility of fully knowing another person. Magritte himself resisted definitive symbolic readings, preferring to describe painting as a way of communicating thought.