Lot 364
  • 364

Joan Miró

Estimate
120,000 - 180,000 GBP
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Description

  • Joan Miró
  • Projet pour 'Miró i Catalunya'
  • signed Miró twice (lower right & upper right)
  • gouache and brush and ink on paper
  • 27 by 26.5cm., 10 5/8 by 10 3/8 in.

Provenance

Manuel de Muga, Barcelona
Galeria Mayoral, Barcelona
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Exhibited

Barcelona, Recinto del Antiguo Hospital de Santa Cruz, Joan Miró, 1968-69, no. 174, illustrated in colour in the catalogue and on the cover

Literature

Alexandre Cerici Pellicer, Miró en su obra, Barcelona, 1970, illustrated p. 194

Condition

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, attached to the mount at all four corners and floating in the mount. There are pinholes to the centre of the upper and lower edges and the upper and lower left corners. The sheet is time stained and gently undulating. There is a small scuff to the lower part of the right edge and a further scuff to the upper right corner. There appear to be a few handling marks (possibly studio) in places along the edges and a few tiny spots of foxing. This work is in overall good condition
"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 statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

Executed for Juan Perucho’s book of the same title, Miró y Cataluña encapsulates the artist’s deep connection with the Catalan countryside. Miró's self-identification with his native land is apparent in the present work, reflecting the purest essences of the Catalan spirit. Perucho describes Catalonia as a region where traditional seny (sanity) and follia (inspired madness) co-exist together in a state hovering perpetually between harmony and tension. Miró’s emphatic application of black paint and seemingly arbitrary splashes of colour against a monochromatic background imbue Miró y Cataluña with a spontaneity characteristic of the artist’s œuvre.

Miró made reference to his purifying evolution towards ever more schematic forms: ‘I always feel the need to achieve the maximum of intensity with the minimum of means… A modelled form is less surprising than a form as yet un-modelled. Without modelling or chiaroscuro, the depth is unlimited: movement can be extended to infinitude. Little by little I have managed to reach a point at which I use no more than a small number of forms and colours. My personages have undergone the same process of simplification as the colours. Now that they have been simplified, they appear more human and more alive than if they had been represented in all their detail. Had they been represented in all their detail, they would lack that imaginary life which amplifies everything’ (quoted in Perucho, Joan Miró y Cataluña, Barcelona, 1968, pp. 238-246).