This is not a pipe. Then what is it? It could be a metaphor for how nothing is truly as it seems. It could also be that the painter was just trying to mess with everyones mind. What ever the case we still have to ask...."If not a pipe, then what is it? It can't really be anything else." In one sense the painter could be talking about the words. The pipe is the pipe, but "ceci n'est pas un pipe" is not a pipe. Is he saying that words do not define what something is? That words alone cannot describe something or someone?
