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Lot Essay
Towards the end of 1920s and 1930s Miró's preoccupation with pictorial devices underwent a shift from the highly enigmatic codes, which populated his canvases in the early 1920s, to a more legible aesthetic language. In the early paintings, every element is decipherable but meaning relies on the context of the surrounding pictorial devices. While the later paintings depict many of the same signs, such as the snail, woman, flower and star in the present work, the meaning is less ambiguous and the humorous impact is more direct. This new approach is evident in his tapestry project of winter 1933-1934, when he painted four cartoons, the design for the present work is now at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid (Peinture, Dupin, no. 462).
The exuberant lyricism of Escargot, femme, fleur, étoile effectively conveys the artist's spontaneity and joy in the creation of organic forms. The neutral background contrasts with the strong vivid blocks of red, yellow, black and white describing the elements, which are whimsically linked by the words that define them. This graphism was influenced in part by the graffiti surrounding the artist in the streets of Barcelona: 'The people are always the same, in fact, and everywhere - spontaneously - they create marvellous things. This is the reason for my attraction to anonymous things, graffiti, the art of common people, the expressions and gestures that leap out...' (Miró quoted in exh. cat., Joan Miró Snail Woman Flower Star, 2000, Dusseldorf, p. 72).
The Surrealist writer Michel Leiris succinctly captures the essence of Miró's work: 'It may seem surprising at first glance to talk of ascetism in Miró's work. The burlesque aspect of his pictures, the astonishing joy that is emitted from within, would seem to make nonsense of the idea. However if you look more closely, you can see that as a painter he must have achieved a tabula rasa in himself in order to find his burlesque aspect of his pictures, the astonishing joy that is emitted from within, would seem to make nonsense of the idea. However if you look more closely, you can see that as a painter he must have achieved a tabula rasa in himself in order to find his the Earth undergo such improbable transformations' (M. Leiris quoted in ibid., p. 74).
The image of Escargot, femme, fleur, étoile lost none of its exuberant impact when translated by the Marie Cuttoli atelier to tapestry in hand-woven Aubusson wool. Indeed such was the artist's attachment to the present work that it hung in the principal reception room at the Miró family house "Son Abrines" in Palma de Mallorca, where he lived from 1956 until his death.
The exuberant lyricism of Escargot, femme, fleur, étoile effectively conveys the artist's spontaneity and joy in the creation of organic forms. The neutral background contrasts with the strong vivid blocks of red, yellow, black and white describing the elements, which are whimsically linked by the words that define them. This graphism was influenced in part by the graffiti surrounding the artist in the streets of Barcelona: 'The people are always the same, in fact, and everywhere - spontaneously - they create marvellous things. This is the reason for my attraction to anonymous things, graffiti, the art of common people, the expressions and gestures that leap out...' (Miró quoted in exh. cat., Joan Miró Snail Woman Flower Star, 2000, Dusseldorf, p. 72).
The Surrealist writer Michel Leiris succinctly captures the essence of Miró's work: 'It may seem surprising at first glance to talk of ascetism in Miró's work. The burlesque aspect of his pictures, the astonishing joy that is emitted from within, would seem to make nonsense of the idea. However if you look more closely, you can see that as a painter he must have achieved a tabula rasa in himself in order to find his burlesque aspect of his pictures, the astonishing joy that is emitted from within, would seem to make nonsense of the idea. However if you look more closely, you can see that as a painter he must have achieved a tabula rasa in himself in order to find his the Earth undergo such improbable transformations' (M. Leiris quoted in ibid., p. 74).
The image of Escargot, femme, fleur, étoile lost none of its exuberant impact when translated by the Marie Cuttoli atelier to tapestry in hand-woven Aubusson wool. Indeed such was the artist's attachment to the present work that it hung in the principal reception room at the Miró family house "Son Abrines" in Palma de Mallorca, where he lived from 1956 until his death.