Born in 1898 in Belgium, Rene Magritte influenced surrealist art like no one else. He attempted to show there was no mystery behind the mystery, and that there is mystery in the everyday. Magritte lived a quiet, middle-class life through which he found a great deal of inspiration. Several of his paintings depict residential areas infused with fantastical, dream-like elements, such as Golconda. He often painted men in bowler hats.