The first time I saw this a few months ago, I asked myself what it means. Is this some kind of a joke I don't understand? I just forgot about it. As I was going through Rene Magritte's wikipedia entry I got to the part about this image. 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe' is painted below the pipe which means 'This is not a pipe'. This seems fasle but is actually true. The painting is not a pipe but rather an image of the pipe. As Magritte himself commented "The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture 'This is a pipe,' I'd have been lying!"
