This watercolor of a blooming field glimpsed through a bouquet-shaped void seems to illustrate Belgian surrealist René Magritte’s definition of a garden as “a space set between a landscape and a bunch of flowers.” Created during World War II, it encapsulates what Magritte called “a search for the bright side of life, the whole traditional range of charming things, women, flowers, birds, trees, the atmosphere of happiness."
René Magritte (1898–1967), Plagiarism (Le plagiat), 1944. Watercolor and gouache over graphite. 13 13/16 x 10 9/16 inches (35 x 26.9 cm). Thaw Collection; 2017.164. © René Magritte/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.