Joan Miro: For the Love of Gaudi

JOAN MIRO 1893-1983
Montroig 1893-1983 Mallorca (Spanish)

Title: Gaudi XXI, 1979

Technique: Original Hand Signed and Numbered Aquatint on Arches paper with Collage

Paper Size: 115 x 71,5 cm / 45.2 x 28.1 in

Additional Information: This original aquatint is hand signed in white pencil by the artist "Miro" in the lower right corner of the image.
It is also Hand Numbered in white pencil at the lower left corner of the image "37/50".

 Miró greatly admired Gaudi, the Catalan Modernist architect, considering his work among his sources of inspiration.Today, The Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró holds all the original designs Miro used as a starting point for his Gaudi series, as well as a large number of plates and color proofs. After Miró has established his printing studio in his Son Boter studio in 1975, he was able to start his major project: a series dedicated to the great Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. The Gaudí series comprises 21 prints in which Miró’s used all conceivable resources, ranging from traditional techniques to the most innovative methods, such as etching, sugar-lift aquatint, carborundum, embossing, and collage. The creative process for this series took place at the Son Boter studio beginning in 1976. The series was printed in Barcelona in 1979, in an edition of 50.
The result of this process is a gallery of images in which the sobriety of the black hues contrasts with the palette of blues, reds, yellows, and greens. All these colours often configure a sort of multi-shaped, uneven grid whose changing geometry suggests the kaleidoscopic, irregular mosaic work used by Gaudí to envelop his architectural elements.

Literature: : Dupin, Jacques, Lelong-Mainaud, Ariane. 2001. Miró Engraver: 1961-1973, Vol. IV. Paris: Lelong/Alan Wofsy Fine Arts.
Reference: Dupin 1080