Joan Miró

JOAN MIRÓ I FERRÀ (Barcelona, 1893 - Palma de Mallorca, 1983).
"La fourmi rose II". 1978.
Engraving, copy 26/30.
Signed and justified in pencil.
Measurements: 21.2 x 32 cm (footprint); 50 x 65 cm (paper); 78 x 92 cm (frame).

In "Hormiga rosa II" (1978), Joan Miró displays his characteristic plastic language, in which simplified forms and vibrant chromatism give rise to a dreamlike universe full of lyricism. The work shows a creature of ambiguous morphology, from which we distinguish a prominent eye, a presence that suggests life and consciousness within the pictorial space. Its schematic form could evoke a dog, although in Miró's imaginary, figures tend to overflow their referent, slipping into the symbolic and the fantastic. Beneath this creature appears what appears to be an ant, a recurring motif in the artist's work and loaded with meanings. For Miró, insects were symbols of the primordial energy of nature, of the microscopic world that coexists with our own and that, in his poetic vision, had as much weight as the stars or human forms. The ant, in particular, is linked to the idea of movement, transformation and persistence, qualities that align with Miró's vitalist and cosmic conception of art. In terms of color, Miró employs his usual primary palette: yellow, red, blue and green, in addition to black, which structures the composition. These colors not only generate a strong visual impact, but also respond to his search for an essential, almost primitive painting, where each tone has its own vibration and dialogues with the emptiness of the background. In terms of technique, the work is part of Miró's graphic production in the 1970s, when the artist experimented with engraving and lithography as a means to expand his visual language.

Joan Miró trained in Barcelona, and made his individual debut in 1918, at the Dalmau Galleries. In 1920 he moved to Paris and met Picasso, Raynal, Max Jacob, Tzara and the Dadaists. There, under the influence of surrealist poets and painters, he matures his style; he tries to transpose surrealist poetry to the visual, based on memory, fantasy and the irrational. His third exhibition in Paris, in 1928, was his first great triumph: the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired two of his works. He returned to Spain in 1941, and that same year the museum dedicated a retrospective to him that would be his definitive international consecration. Throughout his life he received numerous awards, such as the Grand Prizes of the Venice Biennale and the Guggenheim Foundation, the Carnegie Prize for Painting, the Gold Medals of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Fine Arts, and was named Doctor Honoris Causa by the universities of Harvard and Barcelona. His work can currently be seen at the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, as well as at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, the MoMA in New York, the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, the National Gallery in Washington, the MNAM in Paris and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo.