Executed in 1981, Composition is a striking and assured example of Joan Miró's mature work. Created with astonishing technical flair and an economy of pictorial means typical of the last decades of the artist’s life, the present work is a classic example of Miró’s oscillation between figuration and abstraction. The artist addressed the ambiguity inherent in these pictures directly, saying: “It might be a dog, a woman, or whatever. I don't really care. Of course, while I am painting, I see a woman or a bird in my mind, indeed, very tangibly a woman or a bird. Afterward, it's up to you” (Joan Miró & Georges Raillard, Ceci est la couleur de mes rêves, Paris, 1977, p. 128). The works that Miró completed during his mature period demonstrate a level of expressive freedom, exuberance and confidence in his craft, all qualities which endow Composition with a sense of joie-de-vivre.

Miró’s influence on the Abstract Expressionist artists, and their impact on his mature work, is clear in this vibrant composition. Miró initially came into contact with Abstract Expressionism during the summer of 1947, while visiting his friends Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp and Yves Tanguy. During his t.mes in New York Miró became acquainted with Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, and he later described the effect of seeing their work "as a blow to the solar plexus." Pollock and the "Ab Ex" artists had long heralded Miró as a great source of inspiration to their explosive practice, however following the summer of 1947 it was Miró’s art that drew inspiration from the nascent American School. He stated, "it showed me the liberties we can take, and how far we can go, beyond the limits. In a sense, it freed me" (quoted in Jacques Dupin, Miró, New York, 1993, p. 303).