Miquel Barceló

MIQUEL BARCELÓ ARTIGUES (Felanitx, Mallorca, 1957).
“Nocturn. Una pixerada,” 1982.
Color lithograph on Creysse paper, print no. 38/100.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Printed at L’Antiga Impremta Soler.
Measurements: 49 x 70 cm; 61 x 83 cm (frame).

Created in 1982, this lithograph belongs to the decisive moment when Miquel Barceló’s work began to gain international recognition, coinciding with his participation in documenta 7 in Kassel. It is also part of the early core of his graphic work, when he transferred to the medium of lithography the vitalistic, irreverent, and corporeal imagery that characterized his painting from the beginning of the decade.

The hybrid figure virtually spills out of the composition, articulated through elongated limbs, broken contours, and a deliberately unstable anatomy. The title introduces a physiological action treated with the direct, anti-academic humor characteristic of the artist’s early iconography. The motif does not seek a closed narrative, but rather to condense impulse, transformation, and movement.

Lithography is particularly well-suited to this artistic language: it allows for the combination of broad swaths of color with incisive lines, splatters, and variations in texture that preserve the immediacy of the drawing

Miquel Barceló is one of the most internationally renowned figures in contemporary Spanish art. His participation in the 1981 São Paulo Biennial and documenta 7 in Kassel in 1982 marked the beginning of his international recognition. His work is included in the collections of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and the Museu d’Art Contemporani in Barcelona, among other institutions.