Victor Mira

VÍCTOR MIRA (Zaragoza 1949 – Seefeld 2003)
“Map of Aragon,” 1976.
Oil on canvas.
No stretcher frame.
Signed and titled in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 206 x 155 cm.
Provenance: Private German collection.
This work belongs to an early phase of Víctor Mira’s career. It already reveals some of the themes that would accompany the artist throughout his career, such as the exploration of identity, personal memory, psychological tension, and the construction of a subjective symbolic imagination.The composition presents a dreamlike universe populated by figures with distorted anatomies, expressive faces, and elements that seem to arise from free associations rather than a logical narrative. At the center of the scene, a figure reclining in a bathtub bears the repeated words “MAMA” and “PAPA,” while the title of the work itself is inscribed on the tub. This explicit presence of family references suggests an autobiographical interpretation in which the artist links his personal origins to the Aragonese region.
The work belongs to a period of exploration and experimentation in which Mira developed a style akin to Neo-Expressionism, characterized by the deformation of figures, spontaneous drawing, and an intense psychological charge.
A sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer, he was largely self-taught. At the age of eighteen, he held his first solo exhibition at the N’Art Gallery in Zaragoza, which was also the first outdoor sculpture exhibition ever held in that city. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Madrid, where he exhibited in 1973 at the Pol Verdié Gallery. After spending some time splitting his time between Madrid and Germany, he settled in Barcelona in 1977. In 1979, he held his first solo exhibition in Munich at the Tanit Gallery, and the following year he exhibited his work in the United States at the George Staempfli Gallery in New York. From then on, his international career took off, with exhibitions in Germany, the United States, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Colombia, France, Belgium, and Austria, while he continued to exhibit regularly in Spain. In 2003, shortly before his death, he received the award for best living Spanish artist at the ARCO Art Fair. The most recent retrospective exhibition dedicated to this artist was held in Düsseldorf, Germany, at the Beck & Eggeling Gallery. Works by Mira are held in museums and private collections around the world, notably the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Reina Sofía National Art Center, the MACBA, the Fine Arts Museums of Vitoria and Zaragoza, the Beulas Foundation in Huesca, and the ICO Collections Museum in Madrid.