Lot 237 D

On the occasion of the first large-scale Miró exhibition in Germany in 1954, Will Grohmann wrote: “Miró's pictures are never abstract. For him art and abstraction would be a contradiction in itself. When asked about his view of life and art, he said he saw every shape and every colour as coming from experience and every sign as based on a real starting point. For Miró the move away from reality is always tangible; but what ultimately becomes of this move is another question - it is certainly nothing that can be depicted. […] 'A horse?' the art dealer asks the artist. - 'Yes, a horse.' - 'Ah no, isn't it a bird?' - 'Yes, sure, a bird.' That's how it goes. […] Even if the painter does continue with his move away from reality and from perception, he does not paint existing beings. After all, reproducing the standard would be deadly. Rather, he invents, and painting is something which nature can never be.” (Will Grohmann, in: Exhib. cat. Joan Miró, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum / Württembergische Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Krefeld/Stuttgart 1954, n. pag.). The centre of this serene watercolour is occupied by a system of curves and lines, drawn with broad, energetic brushstrokes in red, green, blue and orange, opening up a wide range of associations and reminiscent, in particular, of Miró's favourite subjects at that time - a woman and a bird.