The DEK Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) has used artificial intelligence to recreate the voice of Surrealist artist René Magritte for its exhibition "Magritte. La ligne de vie." The AI-generated voice delivers Magritte's 1938 lecture—the only time he spoke publicly about his work—which was never recorded but survived through slides and a transcript by fellow Surrealist Marcel Mariën. The exhibition, on view until February 2026, features over 100 works and is structured around key themes from that lecture.
This matters because it demonstrates a novel and respectful application of AI in the art world, allowing audiences to hear a notoriously reticent artist discuss his own practice in his own words. The project also highlights how museums can use emerging technology to unlock historical materials and tell stories that would otherwise remain inaccessible, while raising important questions about authenticity and fidelity in digital reconstructions.