Born in Antwerp in 1920, Marcel Mariën swiftly became one of the most prolific members of the Belgian Surrealist movement.

Mariën discovered Surrealism in 1935 through two paintings by fellow Belgian René Magritte during a contemporary art exhibition organized at the Antwerp community centre. He met Magritte two years later in 1937 and subsequently joined the Surrealist group - the youngest member at only 17 years old. It was this year that he made and exhibited his very first surrealist object and his most famous work: L'introuvable, a set of single-lens glasses.

His works play and distort the accepted norm, creating bridges between language, image and object, all concurrently playing with the viewer's perception of reality. His experimentation with different media is testament to his versatility as an artist and member of the movement.

Aside from his involvement with the Surrealists as an artist, Mariën was a writer, poet and theorist. He penned the first monograph of René Magritte, published in 1943; in 1954 he founded the magazine Les Lèvres Nues with Jane Graverol and Paul Nougé and in 1979 he authored the first reference book on Surrealism in Belgium titled L'activité surréaliste en Belgique (1924-1950), to name just a few.

His works are housed in some of the world's most prominent modern art institutions such as Tate Modern in London, The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, MoMa in New York, and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels.