Joan Miró
Figure à la Bougie
Date 1925
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 116.2 x 88.5 x 3.5 cm
Inventory ID UID 102-385
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It is known that Joan Miró was fascinated by the walls of his studio on rue Blomet and that he spent long hours contemplating them, experiencing them as a sort of visions. As a result, between 1924 and 1925 he painted a series of canvases, such as L'Addition [The Addition], (Musée Nacional d'Art Moderne, Paris), La Tâche rouge [The Red Stain] or Le Gentleman (private collections), all with the same greyish background marked with dark lines, recalling liquid mud, on which he places some colours. The supports are rather rough, unprepared canvases. On this background, the creation space, coloured shapes develop – half human, half animal – with indecisive, erratic lines. This was a period of intense activity for the painter, encouraged in his quest by André Masson, his neighbour, and by the surrealists who visited him. AC
Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York; Buchholz Gallery, New York; Marlborough Gallery Inc., New York; Mr. and Mrs. Paul Lester Wiener, New York; William Beadleston, New York (1970); acquired at Christie’s, New York, 26 November 1998.