Sale: 561 / Contemporary Day Sale, Dec. 07. 2024 in Munich Lot 300


300
Wols
Impossible départ, ils restent sur le quai, 1940.
Watercolor and ink pen
Estimate:
€ 35,000 - 45,000

 
$ 38,500 - 49,500

+
Impossible départ, ils restent sur le quai. 1940.
Watercolor and ink pen.
Signed lower right. Dated, titled "Le départ" and inscribed "No. 17" as well as "Camp de Milles (près d'Aix en Provence)" on the reverse. On blue-grayish laid paper. 30.3 x 32.8 cm (11.9 x 12.9 in), the full sheet. [CH].


• Despite his anti-fascist political views, the German artist, who was living in France at the time, was put in an internment camp when WW II (1939/40) broke out due to his origins.
• “Impossible départ” (Departure not possible): Wols addresses his failed attempts to leave occupied France in 1940.
• The drawings and watercolors from this period are characterized by mysterious hybrid forms of fish, mammals, and amorphous shapes, which Wols merged into figurative and abstract compositions.
• Consistent provenance: formerly owned by Gréty Wols, the artist's wife.
• Extensive exhibition history.
• Comparable works from this period can be found in significant museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Tate in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid
.

PROVENANCE: Gréty Wols Collection, Paris (the artist's wife).
Art dealer Dr. Ewald Rathke Frankfurt am Main.
Private collection, Hesse (acquired from the above in 1968).
Family-owned ever since.

EXHIBITION: Probably Klipstein & Co., Bern 1954, cat. no. 3 (with the title “Le départ”).
Lucerne 1967, cat. no. 35,
Aus dem Traumbuch der Maler. Phantasie und Vision (Zeichnungen und Aquarelle), Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt a. Main, August 10 - September 29, 1968, cat. no. 99 (illustrated)
Wols 1913-1951. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, September 13 - November 5, 1973.
Wols. Fotografien und Bilder, Kunsthalle Nuremberg, September 26 - November 16, 1980.
Wols. Drawings and Watercolors, Goethe-Institut, London, March 16 - June 29, 1985; Graph. Kabinett Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, Bremen, October 4 - November 9, 1985, cat. no. 4 (illustrated on p. 29).
Wols. Bilder, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen, Photographien, Druckgraphik, Kunsthaus Zürich, November 24, 1989 - February 11, 1990; Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, March 31 - May 27, 1990, p. 115, cat. no. 33 (illustrated in color).

LITERATURE: Shigeo Chiba, L'oeuvre de Wols (PhD thesis), Paris 1974, p. 151.

Called up: December 7, 2024 - ca. 15.45 h +/- 20 min.





Buyer's premium and taxation for Wols "Impossible départ, ils restent sur le quai"
This lot can be purchased subject to differential or regular taxation.

Differential taxation:
Hammer price up to 800,000 €: herefrom 32 % premium.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 800,000 € is subject to a premium of 27 % and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 800,000 €.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 4,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 22 % and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 4,000,000 €.
The buyer's premium contains VAT, however, it is not shown.

Regular taxation:
Hammer price up to 800,000 €: herefrom 27 % premium.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 800,000 € is subject to a premium of 21% and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 800,000 €.
The share of the hammer price exceeding 4,000,000 € is subject to a premium of 15% and is added to the premium of the share of the hammer price up to 4,000,000 €.
The statutory VAT of currently 19 % is levied to the sum of hammer price and premium. As an exception, the reduced VAT of 7 % is added for printed books.

We kindly ask you to notify us before invoicing if you wish to be subject to regular taxation.