Joan Miró

JOAN MIRÓ I FERRÀ (Barcelona, 1893 - Palma de Mallorca, 1983).
"Lliure", 1987.
Etching and aquatint, copy 25/95.
Signed and justified by hand at the bottom.
Certificate on the back of Succession Miró (Emilio F. Miró).
It shows wear on the frame and some soiling.
It is detached from the base.
Measurements: 66 x 50 cm; 86 x 67 cm (frame).

In this engraving from the eighties, Joan Miró displays his characteristic plastic language, in which biomorphism and vibrant chromatism give rise to a dreamlike universe full of lyricism. The work shows a creature of mouse-like morphology with a prominent eye, a presence that suggests life and consciousness within the pictorial space. In Miró's imagery, however, the figures often overflow their referent, slipping into the symbolic and the fantastic. The title, "Libre" (Free), is a declaration of intent that links the creatures of the earth with vital and cosmic energy. As for color, Miró employs his usual primary palette: yellow, red, blue and green, in addition to black, which structures the composition. These colors not only generate a strong visual impact, but also respond to his search for an essential, almost primitive painting, where each tone has its own vibration and dialogues with the emptiness of the background. In terms of technique, the work is part of Miró's graphic production in the 1980s, when the artist experimented with engraving and lithography as a means to expand his visual language.

Joan Miró trained in Barcelona, and made his individual debut in 1918, at the Dalmau Galleries. In 1920 he moved to Paris and met Picasso, Raynal, Max Jacob, Tzara and the Dadaists. There, under the influence of surrealist poets and painters, he matures his style; he tries to transpose surrealist poetry to the visual, based on memory, fantasy and the irrational. His third exhibition in Paris, in 1928, was his first great triumph: the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired two of his works. He returned to Spain in 1941, and that same year the museum dedicated a retrospective to him that would be his definitive international consecration. Throughout his life he received numerous awards, such as the Grand Prizes of the Venice Biennale and the Guggenheim Foundation, the Carnegie Prize for Painting, the Gold Medals of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Fine Arts, and was named Doctor Honoris Causa by the universities of Harvard and Barcelona. His work can currently be seen at the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, as well as at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the MoMA in New York, the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, the National Gallery in Washington, the MNAM in Paris and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo.