Joan Miro (1893-1983)

Peinture (Painting)

Details

Joan Miro (1893-1983)
Peinture (Painting)
signed 'Mir' (center right)--signed again, titled and dated 'Joan Mir "Peinture" t 1936' (on the reverse)
oil, casein, tar and sand on masonite
30 x 42 in. (78 x 108 cm.)
Painted in Montroig, summer, 1936

Provenance

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York (acquired directly from the artist)
Andr Lefevre, Paris; sale, Palais Gallira, Paris, 29 November 1966, lot 104

Literature

J. Dupin, Joan Mir, Life and Work, New York, 1962, p. 535, no. 457 (illustrated).
D. Porzio, Joan Mir, oil, gnazzi, acquaforti, Milan, 1981, no. 2 (illustrated).

Exhibited

Berlin, Werke franzsischer meister der gegenwart, September-October 1952, no. 52 (illustrated).
Paris, Muse National d'Art Moderne, Collection Andr Lefevre, March-April 1964, p. 31, no. 201.

Lot Essay

The present painting was executed in the summer of 1936 while Mir was living in Montroig, and clearly demonstrates the powerful impact the recent outbreak of the Spanish Civil War had on the artist's aesthetic outlook. Once joyful and lyrical in nature, Mir's work now reflects on the suffering of his countrymen, as seen in his tormented composition The Reaper (Dupin, no. 474; whereabouts unknown), conceived for the stairwell of the Spanish pavillion at the Paris Exposition of 1937. Peinture is another of the twenty-seven paintings which Mir executed at this turbulent time, his exasperation and dark mood witnessed in the aggressive feeling of the composition.