Joan Miró

JOAN MIRÓ (Barcelona, 1893 – Palma de Mallorca, 1983).
“Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona,” 1976.
Original color lithograph on Guarro paper, copy 50/99.
Avant la lettre edition.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Designed to mark the opening of the Miró Foundation in Barcelona.
Published by the Fundació Joan Miró and printed by La Polígrafa, Barcelona.
Bibliography: Joan Miró: Lithographer, vol. VI, ref. Mourlot 1090.
Measurements: 69.85 x 50 cm.

Created for the opening of the Fundació Joan Miró and part of the limited edition of 99 “avant la lettre” copies, signed and numbered in pencil, this lithograph holds special value within the artist’s graphic output due to its direct connection to one of the fundamental institutions of his legacy. This edition differs from the 2,000 copies of the poster printed on ordinary paper with a stamped signature: the 99 copies correspond to the version prior to the addition of the texts and thus constitute an edition specifically intended for collectors.

The composition fully embodies Miró’s mature artistic language. A powerful black structure, with an organic and almost calligraphic development, articulates the space and allows fields of red, blue, green, and yellow to emerge, while the light background retains lighter traces and spots that lend depth and movement. The contrast between the density of the large masses and the apparent spontaneity of the secondary marks creates an image of intense visual energy, in which abstraction, writing, and imaginary figuration are deliberately left open-ended.

Joan Miró was one of the key figures of the 20th-century avant-garde and produced an exceptionally prolific body of graphic work beginning in the postwar period, making lithography and etching fundamental fields of experimentation. In 1941, the Museum of Modern Art in New York dedicated its first major retrospective to him; subsequently, his work was the subject of major exhibitions at institutions such as the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris and the Grand Palais. In 1958, he received the Guggenheim International Award for the murals he created for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. His work is part of the collections of institutions such as MoMA in New York, the Tate in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, as well as the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, which was created at the artist’s own initiative as a center for the study and dissemination of his legacy.