Question 4

In this painting by Magritte, the copy translates to "this is not a pipe," by which he means that it is only a picture, or a representation, of a pipe, but is not an actual pipe. This is an important idea to semiotics because it is a critique of how symbols are mere representations of what they are signifying. Often times, symbols are just as (if not more) recognizable as whatever they are a representation of, which comes into play in cultural studies.