Joan Miró

JOAN MIRÓ (Barcelona, 1893 - Palma de Mallorca, 1983).
"La veuve du corsaire", series "People of the Sea", 1981.
Aquatint and carborundum in color on Rivas paper. Copy 26/60.
Signed with stamp in the lower right corner and numbered in pencil in the lower left corner.
Printed by Morsang.
Edited by Daniel Lelong, Paris, 1990.
Reference: Dupin, no. 1277.
Measurements: 69 × 43.5 cm (print); 104.5 × 78.5 × 4 cm (frame).

In La veuve du corsaire, Miró turns the maritime imaginary into an almost emblematic presence, between figure, sign and banner. The title - "The Corsair's Widow"- introduces a narrative suggestion that is not resolved literally, but through an image charged with tension: a large black shape ascends and curves like a veiled silhouette, sail, body or mask, imposing a severe presence in front of the chromatic flashes.

The use of carborundum acquires an essential role here: it not only provides texture, but an almost sculptural materiality to the black stroke, which seems to be deposited on the paper as a physical trace. In contrast to the lightness of the gray and white backgrounds, this dark mass organizes the reading of the work and turns it into an image of strong impact, where the graphics behave like expanded painting.

Joan Miró trained in Barcelona, where he had his first solo exhibition in 1918 at the Dalmau Galleries. In 1920 he moved to Paris, coming into contact with the surrealist circle, where he developed his own language based on free association, memory and the irrational. His international recognition came soon: in 1928 the MoMA in New York acquired his works, and in 1941 he was the subject of a major retrospective.

Throughout his career he received important distinctions, such as awards at the Venice Biennale and the Guggenheim Foundation, as well as the Gold Medals of Fine Arts and the Generalitat de Catalunya. His work is now held in leading institutions such as the Joan Miró Foundation (Barcelona), the MoMA (New York), the Reina Sofía Museum (Madrid), the National Gallery of Art (Washington) and the Centre Pompidou (Paris).