Fundació Joan Miró

In the late summer of 1939, one month before the outbreak of the Second World War, Miró moved to Varengeville-sur-Mer, in Normandy, hoping to escape from the harsh circumstances surrounding him. A period of seclusion would help his process of introspection, in which the night sky with its celestial bodies played an essential role. “Constellations”, a series of twenty-three washes on paper, seemingly attempts to represent the entire order of the cosmos, with weightless figures relating to the Earth and sharing their universe with a large number of celestial signs.

Figure in Front of the Sun displays the controlled gesture that distinguishes Miró’s painting in the late 1960s, an expressive freedom with no clear precedent in his work, but with an undeniable compositional rigour. Black is the point of departure employed by the artist to outline and structure the painting. The incorporation of other colours is governed by divisions and empty spaces. In spite of its spontaneity, Miró never neglects the composition: the elimination of any one element would destroy the overall balance. Black is the point of departure, employed by the artist to outline and structure the painting. The incorporation of the other colours is governed by the divisions and the empty spaces. In spite of his spontaneity, Miró never neglects the composition: the elimination of any one element would destroy the overall balance.

In 1972, in collaboration with Josep Royo, Miró produced his first textiles known as “sobreteixims”, which were a mix of painting, collage and tapestry. A year later, when he received commissions for monumental tapestries in New York and Washington, he also produced one for the Fundació. Transferring a pictorial language to a medium such as tapestry, with its own specific difficulties, called for an adjustment that was primarily materialized in the expressive use of textures.