Brussels Airlines has announced that it will paint over the images meant to pay tribute to Belgian Surrealist painter René Magritte on one of its airplanes.
It was on March 21st, 2016, when Brussels Airlines presented its long awaited Magritte aircraft, a flying piece of art, dedicated to the famous Belgian artist. Following in the footsteps of Rackham, the Tintin aircraft that the Belgian airline unveiled in 2015, “Magritte” was the second aircraft in a series of Brussels Airlines planes with a special design, inspired by Belgian icons. The Magritte plane, an Airbus A320, was the first passenger flight to take off when the airport opened after the terrorist attacks that took place on March 22nd, 2016 at Zaventem Airport.
This airplane is a symbol of Belgium, which gives a sign of hope
Brussels Airlines
On the outside, the design incorporated two of Magritte’s paintings, La Clairvoyance (1936) and Le Retour (1940). The cabin interior has undergone a surrealist makeover as well and features a flock of cloud-filled birds, taken from Le Retour (1940) and also the work La Belle-Société (1965-66), which features the famous man in the bowler hat.
The design of the aircraft was created by three young Belgian designers, working in the Brussels Airlines marketing team. The painting of the aircraft was realized by airbrush artist Andre Eisele, who previously had also worked on Rackham. He had the challenging task to translate the Magritte design onto an aircraft fuselage. The entire paint job took place in the painting facilities of Eirtech in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
The Brussels Times reported that five years, 6,403 flights and 880,000 passengers carried later, the airplane is being decked out in the livery of Star Alliance. Brussels Airlines has announced that the next special design will be a Trident, an image honoring Belgium’s national football team, the Red Devils. On the inside it also pays a tribute to the women’s team, the Red Flames.
Other special designs in the fleet, the Brussels Times reports, are Rackham (Tintin), the first of its type, Amare (Tomorrowland), due to last until 2023 at least, Aerosmurf (the Smurfs) and the youngest Bruegel, both expected to last until at least 2024.
