Here is ‘Sylvère’s painting’ and his text:

    MAN FROM THE SEA

Magritte painted « Man from the sea » in 1927 during his black period. Magritte paints scenes with a disturbing atmosphere, even macabre.

What I see

In background of the painting there is the sea and the sky is foggy. In front is a man in black garb with a wooden board instead of his head, stands on two pieces of floor of a house. He is trying to open or to close the window.

What I feel

I think that Magritte was really in a  black period when he painted this scene. The contrast between the blackness of the sea and the brightness of the seaside is striking. The painting plunges me into at the same time a mysterious and mesmerizing universe. The faceless man reminds me Fantômas (movie) for his crimes and offences

A story

This comes from the 1920 silent film by Marcel Herbier. Magritte employs elements from the final scene of Feuillade’s second Fantômas film « Juve contre Fantomas », in which the Man in Black raises his arms in triumph after throwing the lever that destroys a house in which Juve and Fandor are trapped. In the painting we see that Fantomas in his black garb is preparing to pull the lever to blow up the house.