L'Empire des Lumieres is a series of paintings by Magritte, developed across 27 works, 17 in oil and 10 in gouache, between the 1940s and 1960s. These works portray the paradoxical image of a nighttime landscape set beneath a bright, sunlit sky, an iconic exploration of surrealism's interplay between reality and illusion. Today, works from this series are exhibited in major institutions including the Guggenheim and MoMA in New York, the Guggenheim in Venice, and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. 

Using LITO Hi-Rnd© Technology, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium discovered that Magritte employed 15 different shades of black in this single composition, an extraordinary testament to his mastery of light and shadow.