In 1936 General Franco crossed from North Africa into Spain with his fascist legions, igniting the Spanish Civil War. Later that year Miró left his home in Montroig, Catalonia and fled to Paris, where at the age of 44 he lived as a refugee without a studio or even for a time his own apartment. Although he was famous as an important Surrealist, in 1937 he spent many afternoons elbow-to-elbow with young art students in the life drawing class at the Académie da la Grande Chaumière. He made about a hundred drawings in which he stretched, distorted and distended the forms of the female nude.

The impact of this experience carried over into the paintings and watercolors of 1938. Instead of imagining his personages as nearly abstract, mythic creatures, he introduced an element of characterization which enhances the humanity and individuality of these figures. In the present work, two male figures--one old, the other young--confront each other, vying for the attention of the female on the right. Despite their humorous and whimsical aspect, these figures express an underlying tension and propensity for violence, which perhaps symbolize the forces tearing at the heart of the Spanish republic.

A photo-certificate from Jacques Dupin dated Paris, September 22, 1994 accompanies this gouache.