Joan Miró

JOAN MIRÓ (Barcelona 1893 – Palma de Mallorca 1983)
Untitled, 1981.
Gouache and etching on paper. Unique work.
Accompanied by a certificate issued by Tristán Barbará (Taller calcográfics Joan Barbará).
Framed with museum-grade glass.
Signed at the bottom. The reverse of the work bears the inscription: “Maqueta III Miró – gravado- mod. V” and a wet stamp from Barbará Calcografía, Editions Barcelona.
Signed at the bottom.
Measurements: 63 x 49 cm; 91 x 76 cm (frame).

-Provenance: Gift from the artist to Joan Barbará.

The work presented here is a color studio test or model executed in gouache by Joan Miró, conceived as a preparatory model for the well-known print *Miró Graveur 5*. In it, the main compositional elements, the symbols, and the vibrant chromatic arrangement that would later be transferred to the final print are already defined. It is, therefore, a piece of particular significance for understanding the artist’s creative process and the genesis of one of his most recognizable graphic compositions. In addition to its artistic and documentary value, the work boasts an exceptional provenance. It belonged to Joan Barbarà, a master engraver and one of Miró’s closest collaborators during the final decades of his career. The relationship between the two went beyond the strictly professional realm to become a deep friendship based on mutual trust and intense creative collaboration. Barbarà participated as a printer in numerous graphic projects by Miró, contributing decisively to the realization of some of his most complex prints. The fact that this piece was a personal gift from Miró himself to Joan Barbarà adds a historical dimension to the work, making it a valuable testament.

Created in 1981, when the artist already had a fully established career and undisputed international recognition, the work synthesizes some of the essential elements of his late artistic language. Against a vast white space, Miró arranges a small set of symbols, biomorphic forms, and seemingly spontaneous black lines that come together in a delicate compositional balance. Accents of red, yellow, green, and blue introduce a chromatic vibrancy characteristic of his work, endowing the image with an immediate visual energy despite the economy of means employed.
The work belongs to the artist’s final years of activity, a period characterized by increasing formal refinement. In these final decades, Miró progressively reduced the compositional elements to the essential, granting an ever-greater prominence to negative space, gesture, and the symbolic intensity of color. The result is a series of images of extraordinary expressive freedom, in which apparent spontaneity coexists with a refined visual composition.
A key figure in the historical avant-garde movements and one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Joan Miró developed a unique artistic language through his exposure to Parisian Surrealism and his constant drive to experiment. His work, now held in major international museums, profoundly transformed the modern conception of painting, printmaking, and sculpture. This piece, in addition to being a magnificent example of his late work, stands out for its exceptional provenance, directly linked to Joan Barbarà and the artist’s inner circle—a circumstance that reinforces both its historical significance and its appeal to collectors and researchers.