Titles for Paintings, Part 1

American illustrator and teacher Harvey Dunn (1884-1952) said, “Always think of a title for your pictures. It will help you to keep up your interest. Give it a name that will stir you, a title that demands a good picture.”

This one is called “Prairie Drama.”

René Magritte (1898-1967) preferred puzzling, literary-sounding titles for his paintings.

Instead of calling this one "Man with an Apple in Front of His Face," he called it “Son of Man” (Le fils de l'homme). 

Magritte usually didn't choose the names himself. He let his Surrealist friends come up with them. He explained, “The titles are chosen in such a way as to prevent my pictures from being situated in the reassuring region to which people’s minds would automatically assign them in order to underestimate their significance.”

------
Magritte quote from Always Looking: Essays on Art

Dunn quote is thanks to Kev Ferrara
------

The full series:

Titles for Paintins, Part 1
Titles for Paintings, Part 2: Poetic Titles
Titles for Paintings: Part 3: Practicalities