Joan Miró

JOAN MIRÓ (Barcelona, 1893 – Palma de Mallorca, 1983).
“Ubu aux Baléares,” 1971.
Color lithograph on Arches paper.
Signed and numbered in pencil 44/120.
Plate 10 from the album *Ubu aux Baléares*.
Printed by Mourlot, Paris.
Published by Tériade, Paris.
Bibliography: Fernand Mourlot, *Joan Miró. Lithographe*, vol. IV, 1969–1972, Éditions Maeght, Paris, 1981, p. 141, no. 766 (reproduced).
Measurements: 50 x 66 cm; 69 x 85.5 cm (frame).

Created in 1971, this lithograph is part of the album *Ubu aux Baléares*, comprising twenty-three original prints in which Joan Miró reinterpreted the fantastical and satirical universe of the character Ubu, created by the French playwright Alfred Jarry. The series constitutes one of the most distinctive expressions of his mature graphic work, in which the artist transposed Jarry’s characteristic grotesque creatures and absurd humor into the Balearic imagination. The composition features a repertoire of biomorphic figures, fantastical beings, and calligraphic-looking symbols, articulated through highly spontaneous black lines. The delicate touches of blue, orange, and yellow introduce a chromatic counterpoint that accentuates the playful nature of the scene. The freedom of the drawing and the combination of recognizable and abstract forms reflect the extraordinary capacity for synthesis that Miró achieved during this period.

Joan Miró was one of the leading figures of the 20th-century avant-garde. Associated with Surrealism since his time in Paris during the 1920s, he developed a personal artistic language based on imaginative freedom, the line, and color. In 1956, he settled in Mallorca, where he immersed himself in an intense creative output that spanned painting, sculpture, ceramics, and printmaking. In 1954, he received the Grand Prize for Printmaking at the Venice Biennale, and in 1958, the Guggenheim Award. His work is part of prestigious collections such as the MoMA in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, and Es Baluard Museu in Palma, an institution that holds a copy of the album *Ubu aux Baléares*.