Joan Miró

A gift from the artist to the present owner

Executed on thick cream wove paper, not laid down, hinged to the mount in the top two corners. All four edges are deckled. There are two artist's pinholes to the upper edge. There is a 4cm. repaired tear to the lower right edge and a 3cm. repaired tear to the centre of the left edge (both visible in the catalogue illustration), both supported on the reverse with restorer's tape. Apart from some minor nicks, folds and creases to the left and right edges, probably intrinsic to the nature of the support, and some light studio dirt, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate, although the paper tone is slightly warmer and the reds are lighter in the original.
"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."

JOAN MIRÓ 1893-1983

Joan Miró was at the vanguard of the project to 'make it new', and his work combines poetic expression with an artisanal sense of the importance of materials. His art is shaped by the desire to reveal the marvellous in the quotidian, and a sense of wonder in natural phenomena evident in Miró's work has its roots in rural Spain. As Miró himself commented, 'The vigorous Catalan landscape without a trace of anecdotal description, has been a capital element of my plastic and poetic conception' (quoted in Rosamond Bernier, 'Miró the Ceramist' in The Selective Eye, 1956-57, p. 9), and traces of the landscapes of his youth, transfigured by his poetic sensibility and imaginative fantasy, are a constant in his work. But over and beyond the physical forms that provided inspiration, the poetic element in his art owes much to a metaphysical conception of reality that sought the infinite in the everyday.

In Miró's own words, his art sought to access 'the moving poetry which exists in humble things, that radiating force of soul which they emanate'. Baudelaire's description of the mystical nature of the poetic enterprise, in a work much admired by Miró, perfectly expresses the metaphysical worldview that lay the foundation for his art: 'What is a poet...but a translator, a decoder' of a reality in which 'everything – form, movement, number, colour, perfume – in the spiritual as in the natural domain, is significant, reciprocal, converse, corresponding' (Charles Baudelaire, 'Réflexions sur quelques-uns de mes contemporains: Victor Hugo' from L'Art romantique in Œuvres complètes de Baudelaire, Tours, 1956, pp. 1,085-86). The following works typify Miro's sense of wonder in the natural world, utilising motifs such as the bird that became the primary theme of his art during the 1940s. These recognisable objects were part of a pictorial lexicon of signs and symbols that characterised his post-war production, and reflect his belief that 'a form is never something abstract...it is always a sign of something. It is always a man, a bird, or something else. For me painting is never form for form's sake (quoted in Margit Rowell, Miro, New York, 1970, p. 207).

Fig. 1, Joan Miró in his studio in Mallorca