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Lot Essay
Joan Miró made his initial contact with American painting during his first trip to the United States in February-October 1947. In addition to renewing his friendships with artists who had emigrated to the United States before and during the Second World War, such as Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp and Yves Tanguy, Miró met many of the younger Americans who were making their reputations, including Jackson Pollock.
Miró's second trip to America in 1959, on the occasion of his retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, came at a crucial juncture in his career. He had not painted since 1955, and was concentrating on printmaking and ceramics, while getting accustomed to a new studio that had been designed for his use in Calamayor, Mallorca. The work of the now established New York artists had a profound effect on him. "It showed me the liberties we can take, and how far we can go, beyond the limits. In a sense, it freed me" (quoted in J. Dupin, Miró, New York, 1993, p. 303).
After Miró returned to Europe, paintings again began to flow from his studio, and this abundance did not let up throughout the 1960s. "These paintings disclose affinities--which Miró did not in the least attempt to deny--with the investigations of a new generation of painters. In these new realms, Miró was in fact, more so than any other painter, an innovator. Many of these painters, notably Robert Motherwell and Jackson Pollock, acknowledged their debt to Miró who, in turn, displayed lively interest in their work and never missed an opportunity to encourage and support them" (ibid., p. 304).
Many of Miró's paintings of the 1960s are characterized by the use of a heavy, sweeping and gestural black line. The artist's subjects have been reduced to their essential linear aspect; they have become ideograms. The influence of the work of Franz Kline is evident, as is Miró's interest in urban graffiti. There is also a free use of unmixed color, ploughed across the canvas with the palette knife. Motherwell noted that Miró's colors came from his Mediterranean environment, "the bright colors of folk art--reds, ultramarine blues and cobalt, lemon yellow, purple, the burnt earth colors, sand and black. His colors are born for whitewashed plaster walls in bright sunlight" (quoted in "The Significance of Miró", The Collected Writings of Robert Motherwell, New York, 1992, p. 117).
Miró's second trip to America in 1959, on the occasion of his retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, came at a crucial juncture in his career. He had not painted since 1955, and was concentrating on printmaking and ceramics, while getting accustomed to a new studio that had been designed for his use in Calamayor, Mallorca. The work of the now established New York artists had a profound effect on him. "It showed me the liberties we can take, and how far we can go, beyond the limits. In a sense, it freed me" (quoted in J. Dupin, Miró, New York, 1993, p. 303).
After Miró returned to Europe, paintings again began to flow from his studio, and this abundance did not let up throughout the 1960s. "These paintings disclose affinities--which Miró did not in the least attempt to deny--with the investigations of a new generation of painters. In these new realms, Miró was in fact, more so than any other painter, an innovator. Many of these painters, notably Robert Motherwell and Jackson Pollock, acknowledged their debt to Miró who, in turn, displayed lively interest in their work and never missed an opportunity to encourage and support them" (ibid., p. 304).
Many of Miró's paintings of the 1960s are characterized by the use of a heavy, sweeping and gestural black line. The artist's subjects have been reduced to their essential linear aspect; they have become ideograms. The influence of the work of Franz Kline is evident, as is Miró's interest in urban graffiti. There is also a free use of unmixed color, ploughed across the canvas with the palette knife. Motherwell noted that Miró's colors came from his Mediterranean environment, "the bright colors of folk art--reds, ultramarine blues and cobalt, lemon yellow, purple, the burnt earth colors, sand and black. His colors are born for whitewashed plaster walls in bright sunlight" (quoted in "The Significance of Miró", The Collected Writings of Robert Motherwell, New York, 1992, p. 117).