Lot Essay
The title and image of the leafless tree is derived from a series of three oil paintings done in 1941 (ed. D. Sylvester, op. cit., vol. II, nos. 481-483). In a letter to Claude Spaak dated January 5, 1941, the artist wrote: "Among the recent canvases, there are four versions of 'The search for the absolute', which is a leafless tree (in winter) but with branches that provide the shape of the leaf, a Leaf even so!" (Ibid., p. 282).
Magritte painted two other gouaches on this theme in 1960. The present work is the last in the series, and has been dated 1963; it is the only version to incorporate the silhouette of the house with lighted windows, which first appears in the 1963 oil painting La fin du monde (D. Sylvester, no. 980) and another gouache of the same year, Les signes de soir (D. Sylvester, no. 1536).
Magritte painted two other gouaches on this theme in 1960. The present work is the last in the series, and has been dated 1963; it is the only version to incorporate the silhouette of the house with lighted windows, which first appears in the 1963 oil painting La fin du monde (D. Sylvester, no. 980) and another gouache of the same year, Les signes de soir (D. Sylvester, no. 1536).