Joan Miró

JOAN MIRÓ I FERRÀ (Barcelona, 1893 - Palma de Mallorca, 1983).
"La formiga" 1978
Lithograph, copy H.C. XVII/XXV.
Signed and justified by hand.
With certificate written on the back by Rosa María Malet, Barcelona, 2025.
Measurements: 53 x 76 cm; 66 x 96 cm (frame).

"La formiga" condenses in an exemplary way the visual language that the artist developed in his maturity: a poetic and playful universe, built from essential signs, primary chromatic stains and gestures that seem to arise from the automatic impulse. The central figure - a hybrid, insectoid form that evokes the idea of the ant - combines a forceful, gestural black with areas of intense color (red, blue, green, yellow), arranged in irregular planes that recall both mosaic and children's games, two common references in Miró's painting.

The background splashed by spraying technique introduces a vibrant and spatial dynamism, giving the composition a cosmic quality, as if the figure were floating in an unlimited space. The small stars, dots, spots and graphics that surround the main motif form a Mironian visual alphabet, a mixture of calligraphy, constellations and primitive symbols, characteristic of the artist since the forties and radicalized in his graphic work of the seventies.

The value of the numbered copy is added to Miró's technical mastery of lithography, a medium he exploited like few others to achieve images of enormous freshness and spontaneity, and the late date of the work -1978-, the moment when his language reached maximum synthesis and absolute freedom of gesture. In lithography, Miró found an ideal space to experiment. His technical mastery allowed him to expand the limits of the medium by superimposing intense chromatic layers, spraying, splashing and spontaneous line. Images of apparent simplicity are supported by a refined sense of balance and composition.

Lithography becomes for Miró a laboratory of invention, as important as his painting or his sculptural work, and a medium through which he manages to spread his symbolic vocabulary more widely, without losing an iota of artistic quality.

This is an "Out of Commerce" (H.C.) copy: these copies were traditionally reserved for the artist, the printer or close collaborators, and were not intended for initial sale. They are often more highly valued by collectors for their rarity.

Made in 1978, five years before his death, this work reflects Miró's total freedom. The representation, which paradoxically alludes to the small, is monumental and explosive, elevating the minute to a poetic and universal category through the use of pure color and spontaneous gesture.