Joan Miró

Composition VII, from: Gaudí, by Joan Miró, 1979.

• Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893-1983).
• Etching with aquatint on Arches Wove paper.
• Hand signed and numbered.
• Part of an edition of 50.
• Printed by Joan Barbarà, Barcelona.
• Published by Maeght, Barcelona.
• This work is presented unframed.

After Miró had established his printing studio in his Son Boter studio in 1975, he was able to start his major project: a print series dedicated to the great Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, a figure he greatly admired. Miró met Gaudi during his adolescence while he was attending drawing classes at the Cercle de Sant Lluc. Miró greatly admired this Catalan Modernist architect, considering Gaudí’s work among his sources of inspiration.

Miró decided to prepare this series carefully in advance before proceeding. In order to "be in shape", as he described it, he produced together with the engraver Joan Barbarà a variety of works such as Enrajolats, La commedia dell’arte, Rupestres, Personatges i estels and La gran rodona.

The Gaudí series comprises 21 prints in which Miró used all conceivable resources, ranging from traditional techniques to the most innovative methods, such as etching, sugar-lift aquatint, carborundum, embossing, and collage. Miró worked from a series of preliminary sketches and originals made with pencil, pastel, ink, gouache, and collage. The original designs for the Gaudí series were finished before Barbarà began his collaboration with Miró. All the matrices that were used for this series were copper plates, some plated with nickel.

The creative process for this series took place at the Son Boter studio beginning in 1976; it was then printed in Barcelona in 1979, in an edition of 50. The result of this process is a gallery of images in which the sobriety of the black hues contrasts with the palette of blues, reds, yellows, and greens. All of these colors often configure a sort of multi-shaped, uneven grid whose changing geometry suggests the kaleidoscopic, irregular mosaic work used by Gaudí to envelop his architectural elements.

Hand signed.

Acquired from the publisher, Maeght, Barcelona.

Private Collection, United States of America.

The Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró holds all the original designs that were used as a starting point for this series, as well as a large number of plates and color proofs.

Dupin, J. (2001). Miró Engraver, Vol. IV 1976-1983. Paris: Éditeur Daniel Lelong. Reference: Dupin 1066