René Magritte (1898-1967), La recherche de l'absolu

René Magritte (1898-1967)
La recherche de l'absolu
signed 'Magritte' (lower left); dated and inscribed '"La Recherche de l'Absolu" 1948' (on the reverse)
gouache on paper
18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.5 cm.)
Executed in 1948

Special Notice
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Provenance
Alexander Iolas, New York.
William Copley, Los Angeles & New York.
Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles.
Alan Auslander Gallery, New York.
Robert M. & Helen W. Benjamin, New York, by whom acquired from the above in 1965; her sale, Sotheby's, New York, 2 May 1996, lot 260.
Gana Art Gallery, Seoul.

Literature
D. Sylvester, ed., René Magritte, Catalogue raisonné, vol. IV, Gouaches, Temperas, Watercolours and Papiers Collés, 1918-1967, London, 1994, no. 1284, p. 116 (illustrated).

Exhibited
New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, The Helen W. and Robert M. Benjamin Collection: A Loan Exhibition, May - June 1967, no. 104, p. 95 (illustrated p. 19; titled 'Tree').