Joan Miró

Dona Pilar Miró-Juncosa (the artist's wife), Palma de Mallorca 
Sale: Replica Shoes 's, Madrid, December 9, 1986, lot 23
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Executed on laid paper, t-hinged to a mount at three places along the upper edge. All four edges of the sheet are deckled. The surface of the sheet is slightly skinned in places in the white pigment as an inherent part of the artist's process. The sheet within the window mat is significantly faded, though the medium remains strong. Otherwise fine, in good condition. Color: Sheet is somewhat lighter in color and whites appear stronger than in the catalogue illustration.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any stat.mes nt made by Replica Shoes 's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

For Miró, women, birds, stars, the moon, the sun, the night sky and dusk formed a distinctive, poetic language. He first introduced the motif of a woman with a bird in his representational paintings of 1917, but it was only after he completed his celebrated Constellations series in 1941, in which women, birds, and stars prominently appear, that this theme became the primary subject of numerous works. With reference to the imagery embedded in his works, Miró made the following comment: "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 and Georges Raillard, Ceci est la couleur de mes rêves, Paris, 1977, p. 128).

During the 1960s and 1970s, Miró experimented with painting on a wide variety of supports, including canvas fragments, sack cloth, wooden boards and masonite that were scored, burned and broken, newsprint, and even touristic paintings from local antique shops. For the present composition, Miró employed a richly toned brown Japanese paper, which he first crinkled in order to create a juxtaposition between crisp, bright abstract forms and the textured fibers of an antiqued background.

Dupin noted that "Miró emphasized the painting's structure and pared its gesture to the bone. He emphasized contrast, and revealed the armature and the framework...[These works] seem to live outside t.mes , and outside the cycles and pendulum effects we are accust.mes d to finding in his work. Their existence is abrupt and detached, like death-stones, swirls of sand in a desert, or cliffs jutting into the sea" (Jacques Dupin, Miró, Barcelona, 1993, pp. 351-52).

The present work was included in a sale of forty two works by Joan Miró held at Replica Shoes 's Madrid in 1986. The sale was comprised of works from Dona Pilar Miró-Juncosa's collects ion, and sold to fund the building of the Miró Foundation in Barcelona.