JOAN MIRÓ | Painting

Georges Hugnet, Paris
Private collection, Paris (acquired from the above)
Sale: Sotheby's, Paris, December 8, 2011, lot 24
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Jacques Dupin & Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miró, Catalogue Raisonné, Paintings, 1931-1941, Paris, 2000, vol. II, no. 344, illustrated p. 28

Executed on a sheet of metal affixed at various points along the verso to a board. There are scattered thin abrasions to the surface of the metal and a flattened crease running horizontally across the lower part of the composition, possibly original inherent to the support or to the artistic process. There is some paint shrinkage to the blue and white pigments with associated small specks of paint loss and some glue remnants visible around the main elements of the composition, possibly inherent to the artistic process. There are two small dents to the metal just above the centre of the composition and a few minor flattened creases along the lower edge, notably in the lower right corner. This work is in good overall 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."

In a 1927 interview with the art critic Tériade, Miró declared that he wanted to "assassinate painting". This "anti-painting" crisis was reflected from 1930 onwards in his experimentation with new techniques and materials in his art. As a result, 1931 was the year of superimposed materials, collages and "object-paintings". The collage technique, in particular, represents a significant part of the artist's work. Miró did not think of collage in the Cubist manner; rather, he decided to apply it to new media, creating original associations, for example, by combining paper and wood with a metal or aluminium stand. As Margit Rowell has pointed out, pieces from this period constituted a major revolution in Miró's body of work, and the collages he made at that time would go on to serve as a source of inspiration for the paintings created several years later, forming the alphabet of a prototype language that the artist continued to use from then on: "The assemblages Miró made at the time are, by their economy of means and the great plasticity of the materials used, wonderful poetic pictograms. In the past, a descriptive detail would bear a relationship to reality; now, it is the texture, the rhythm of the forms, their dynamism, and the impression they leave in the eye and the memory of the viewer, that become reality itself" (Margit Rowell, Joan Miró, Peinture = Poésie, Paris, 1976, p. 55).