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Lot Essay
PEINTURE SUR FOND BLANC IS ONE OF A UNIQUE SERIES OF EIGHT PAINTINGS ON WHITE GROUNDS THAT FORM THE CULMINATION OF MIRó'S SO-CALLED 'DREAM PAINTINGS' THAT PREOCCUPIED THE ARTIST FROM 1925 UNTIL THE SUMMER OF 1927. IN 1927, MIRó WAS LIVING IN THE MIDST OF THE SURREALIST COMMUNITY OF MONTMARTRE. INFLUENCED BY HIS SURREALIST FRIENDS INTO EXPERIMENTING WITH AUTOMATISM, CHANCE EFFECTS AND DREAM ILLUSIONS, MIRó BECAME INCREASINGLY BOLD AND INVENTIVE IN HIS USE OF HALLUCINATORY IMAGES WHICH A STATE OF HUNGER OFTEN BROUGHT INTO HIS MIND. "I'D GO HOME IN THE EVENINGS", HE RECALLED, "TO MY STUDIO IN THE RUE BLOMET, I'D GO TO BED, I HADN'T ALWAYS EATEN, I SAW THINGS, I NOTED THEM IN NOTEBOOKS. I SAW SHAPES IN THE CRACKS IN THE WALLS, IN THE CEILING, ESPECIALLY THE CEILING." (MIRó CITED IN JOAN MIRó: CARNETS CATALANS, GENEVA 1976, P. 72).
BY 1926, AS MIRó RECALLED, "THE SIGNS OF AN IMAGINARY WRITING APPEARED IN MY WORK. I PAINTED WITHOUT PREMEDITATION, AS IF UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF A DREAM. I COMBINED REALITY AND MYSTERY IN A SPACE THAT HAD BEEN SET FREE. I OWED THIS LIGHTHEARTED ATMOSPHERE TO THE INFLUENCE OF DADA... LATER A DEEPENING SENSE OF THE MARVELLOUS LED ME TO THE NOTION OF THE FANTASTIC. I WAS NO LONGER SUBJECTED TO DREAM-DICTATION. I CREATED MY DREAMS THROUGH MY PAINTINGS... I ESCAPED INTO THE ABSOLUTE OF NATURE. I WANTED MY SPOTS TO SEEM TO OPEN TO THE MAGNETIC APPEAL OF THE VOID. I WAS VERY INTERESTED IN THE VOID, IN PERFECT EMPTINESS. I PUT IT INTO MY PALE AND SCUMBLED GROUNDS, AND MY LINEAR GESTURES ON TOP WERE THE SIGNS OF MY DREAM PROGRESSION." (AS CITED IN: JOAN MIRó: SELECTED WRITINGS AND INTERVIEWS, ED. M. ROWELL, LONDON 1987, PP. 264-50).
THIS PREOCCUPATION WITH THE VOID LED IN 1927 TO THE SERIES OF PAINTINGS ON A WHITE GROUND THAT BECAME THE FULLEST EXPRESSION OF THIS PARTICULAR ARTISTIC DIRECTION. THROUGHOUT THE WINTER OF THAT YEAR, MIRó CONFINED HIMSELF TO HIS STUDIO TO DEVOTE ALL HIS ENERGY TO HIS WORK. WANTING TO GIVE HIS WORK WHAT HE CALLED, "AN ASTRAL QUALITY" HE CREATED PAINTINGS FULL OF SEEMINGLY FLOATING IMAGES THAT "NO LONGER SHOWED THE PULL OF GRAVITY" BUT FLOATED LIKE CALLIGRAPHIC CIPHERS ON INFINITE WHITE BACKGROUNDS. THE WHITE GROUND PAINTINGS REPRESENTED A MEETING OF NIGHT AND DAY, OF THE VOID AND THE HUMAN IMAGINATION. TO SYMBOLISE THIS FACT, MIRó OFTEN MIXED POWDERED SILVER AND GOLD - ARCHETYPAL SYMBOLS OF THE SUN AND MOON - INTO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE WHITE GROUND.
OF THE EIGHT 'WHITE GROUND' PAINTINGS WHICH, RARELY FOR MIRó, WERE DELIBERATELY EXECUTED AS AN EXPLORATORY SERIES, FIVE HAVE SUBTITLES THAT REFER DIRECTLY TO FIGURATIVE OBJECTS, AND THREE, INCLUDING THE PRESENT PAINTING, ARE UNTITLED AND ESSENTIALLY NON-FIGURATIVE. THIS PAINTING, FORMERLY IN THE BARMAN COLLECTION, WITH ITS CAREFULLY DRAWN IDEOGRAMS FLOATING ON THE WHITE SPACE HAS BEEN DESCRIBED BY JACQUES DUPIN AS "BRINGING TO MIND THE ROCK PAINTINGS OF THE SPANISH LEVANT" AND MIRó HIMSELF OBSERVED THAT THE "SHARPER LINEAR QUALITY" OF THE WHITE GROUND PAINTINGS REMINDED SOME PEOPLE OF FRESCOS. (OP.CIT., P. 265).
THE FLUIDITY OF THE CALLIGRAPHIC MARKINGS IN THIS PAINTING SUGGEST A SENSE OF IMMEDIACY AND SPONTANEITY IN THEIR EXECUTION. EVEN THOUGH THESE WHITE GROUND PAINTINGS REPRESENT AN EXPLORATION THAT PUSHES TO THE VERY EDGE OF RATIONAL PERCEPTION, MIRó WAS FAR MORE CONCERNED WITH A METICULOUS RECORDING OF THE PROJECTED IMAGERY OF HIS IMAGINATION THAN WITH THE UNCONSCIOUS AUTOMATISM FAVOURED BY THE SURREALISTS.
BY 1926, AS MIRó RECALLED, "THE SIGNS OF AN IMAGINARY WRITING APPEARED IN MY WORK. I PAINTED WITHOUT PREMEDITATION, AS IF UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF A DREAM. I COMBINED REALITY AND MYSTERY IN A SPACE THAT HAD BEEN SET FREE. I OWED THIS LIGHTHEARTED ATMOSPHERE TO THE INFLUENCE OF DADA... LATER A DEEPENING SENSE OF THE MARVELLOUS LED ME TO THE NOTION OF THE FANTASTIC. I WAS NO LONGER SUBJECTED TO DREAM-DICTATION. I CREATED MY DREAMS THROUGH MY PAINTINGS... I ESCAPED INTO THE ABSOLUTE OF NATURE. I WANTED MY SPOTS TO SEEM TO OPEN TO THE MAGNETIC APPEAL OF THE VOID. I WAS VERY INTERESTED IN THE VOID, IN PERFECT EMPTINESS. I PUT IT INTO MY PALE AND SCUMBLED GROUNDS, AND MY LINEAR GESTURES ON TOP WERE THE SIGNS OF MY DREAM PROGRESSION." (AS CITED IN: JOAN MIRó: SELECTED WRITINGS AND INTERVIEWS, ED. M. ROWELL, LONDON 1987, PP. 264-50).
THIS PREOCCUPATION WITH THE VOID LED IN 1927 TO THE SERIES OF PAINTINGS ON A WHITE GROUND THAT BECAME THE FULLEST EXPRESSION OF THIS PARTICULAR ARTISTIC DIRECTION. THROUGHOUT THE WINTER OF THAT YEAR, MIRó CONFINED HIMSELF TO HIS STUDIO TO DEVOTE ALL HIS ENERGY TO HIS WORK. WANTING TO GIVE HIS WORK WHAT HE CALLED, "AN ASTRAL QUALITY" HE CREATED PAINTINGS FULL OF SEEMINGLY FLOATING IMAGES THAT "NO LONGER SHOWED THE PULL OF GRAVITY" BUT FLOATED LIKE CALLIGRAPHIC CIPHERS ON INFINITE WHITE BACKGROUNDS. THE WHITE GROUND PAINTINGS REPRESENTED A MEETING OF NIGHT AND DAY, OF THE VOID AND THE HUMAN IMAGINATION. TO SYMBOLISE THIS FACT, MIRó OFTEN MIXED POWDERED SILVER AND GOLD - ARCHETYPAL SYMBOLS OF THE SUN AND MOON - INTO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE WHITE GROUND.
OF THE EIGHT 'WHITE GROUND' PAINTINGS WHICH, RARELY FOR MIRó, WERE DELIBERATELY EXECUTED AS AN EXPLORATORY SERIES, FIVE HAVE SUBTITLES THAT REFER DIRECTLY TO FIGURATIVE OBJECTS, AND THREE, INCLUDING THE PRESENT PAINTING, ARE UNTITLED AND ESSENTIALLY NON-FIGURATIVE. THIS PAINTING, FORMERLY IN THE BARMAN COLLECTION, WITH ITS CAREFULLY DRAWN IDEOGRAMS FLOATING ON THE WHITE SPACE HAS BEEN DESCRIBED BY JACQUES DUPIN AS "BRINGING TO MIND THE ROCK PAINTINGS OF THE SPANISH LEVANT" AND MIRó HIMSELF OBSERVED THAT THE "SHARPER LINEAR QUALITY" OF THE WHITE GROUND PAINTINGS REMINDED SOME PEOPLE OF FRESCOS. (OP.CIT., P. 265).
THE FLUIDITY OF THE CALLIGRAPHIC MARKINGS IN THIS PAINTING SUGGEST A SENSE OF IMMEDIACY AND SPONTANEITY IN THEIR EXECUTION. EVEN THOUGH THESE WHITE GROUND PAINTINGS REPRESENT AN EXPLORATION THAT PUSHES TO THE VERY EDGE OF RATIONAL PERCEPTION, MIRó WAS FAR MORE CONCERNED WITH A METICULOUS RECORDING OF THE PROJECTED IMAGERY OF HIS IMAGINATION THAN WITH THE UNCONSCIOUS AUTOMATISM FAVOURED BY THE SURREALISTS.