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Lot Essay
In August, 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, Miró rented 'Clos des Sansonnets', a house in Varengeville on the Normandy coast near Dieppe where he lived until May 1940. There he painted several important series which culminated in the first gouaches of the celebrated Constellations.
Jacques Dupin has designated one of these series as Varengeville II, which the artist painted on burlap. He described Miró's brushwork and use of line as "...darting forth, defining the figures and stars and imparting its inspired joyfulness to the entire surface. The frequency and insistency of the black areas leaves little room for color...What we do find in the way of color, however, is very intense: these touches are like sparks in the night...[and] the entire surface has been mobilized so that the figures are bathed in nocturnal light" (J. Dupin, op. cit., p. 354).
Jacques Dupin has designated one of these series as Varengeville II, which the artist painted on burlap. He described Miró's brushwork and use of line as "...darting forth, defining the figures and stars and imparting its inspired joyfulness to the entire surface. The frequency and insistency of the black areas leaves little room for color...What we do find in the way of color, however, is very intense: these touches are like sparks in the night...[and] the entire surface has been mobilized so that the figures are bathed in nocturnal light" (J. Dupin, op. cit., p. 354).