Wols
1913 - 1951

Ohne Titel (Stadtlandschaft). 1940/1941.
Watercolor and ink pen.
Signed in the lower right. On firm, slightly structured wove paper. 22.3 x 29.4 cm (8.7 x 11.5 in), the full sheet.
Philipp Gutbrod’s catalogue raisonné cites a note by Werner Haftmann on the back of a reproduction (Werner Haftmann Archive): “Created in Cassis, inspired by Gréty [Gréty Wols, the artist’s wife]. Sold to a doctor in Avignon in 1942. Gréty later bought it back.” Gutbrod suspects this may have been Dr. Georges Pons of Avignon. [CH].

• Dreamlike: As a counterpoint to reality, Wols created fantastical worlds that blur the lines between abstraction and figuration.
• The combination of delicate watercolors and subtle line compositions conveys a playful lightness and poetry, revealing the artist's affinity with Surrealism.
• Comparable works from this period are in major museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
• In recent years, the artist’s works have featured in solo exhibitions at, among others, the Kunstmuseum Basel (2025, Kupferstichkabinett) and the Centre Pompidou in Paris (2020).

Accompanied by a photographic Certificate of Authenticity issued by Dr. Ewald Rathke on April 17, 2014 (copy).

PROVENANCE: Private collection, Avignon (acquired from the artist in 1942).
Collection of Gréty Wols (1913–1951), Paris (the artist’s widow; reacquired from a doctor in Avignon who had purchased the work from Wols in 1942).
Galerie Bénador, Geneva.
François Chauvet Collection, Geneva (circa 1964).
Galerie Pudelko, Bonn.
Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia (likely acquired from the above in the 1970s).

EXHIBITION: Chefs-d'œuvre des collections suisses de Manet à Picasso (Exposition Nationale Suisse), Palais de Beaulieu, Lausanne, May 1964, cat. no. 347 (illustrated in black and white, titled “La ville” and dated “1939–1940”)
Wols. The Great Mystery, Museum Wiesbaden, Oct. 17, 2013–Jan. 26, 2014 (not in the catalog) .

LITERATURE: Philipp Gutbrod, Wols (1913–1951). Works on Paper (annotated critical catalogue raisonné, PhD thesis), Heidelberg 2003 [microfiche], CR no. A 293 (illustrated).

Called up: June 13, 2026 - ca. 17.14 h +/- 20 min.