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Joan Miró

Peinture (Painting)

1925

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In the mid-1920s the Spanish Surrealist artist Joan Miró made line drawings in paint of semiabstract figures and signs that hinted at per­sonal and symbolic meanings. In Peinture, a diagrammatic arrangement of solid and dotted lines, letters, and shapes in red and black appears to float over a horizonless space. Miró created the illusion of a bound­ less vaporous atmosphere by applying layers of diluted paint over a canvas sized with glue to reduce permeability, resulting in an uneven absorption of paint. Over the mottled background, the profile of a mustachioed bourgeois gentleman is delineated by a thin line that ends in a thick red coil suggestive of anatomical or scatological associations. The ambiguity of this visual innuendo is underscored by the letters J O I along the left side of the canvas, which may allude to the French words joie (joy), jouer (to play), journal (newspaper), or jouir (to enjoy). [Permanent collection label, 2019]

  • Artist Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893–1983)
  • Title Peinture (Painting)
  • Date 1925
  • Medium Oil on linen
  • Dimensions unframed | 39 1/2 x 28 3/4 in.
  • Credit line Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Weil, 1963
  • Object number WU 4130
  • Currently on View Gertrude Bernoudy Gallery, Room 3

Short-term loans for display in galleries
Saint Louis Art Museum, 06/06/2018 - 08/04/2019

From Picasso to Fontana: Collecting Modern and Postwar Art in the Eisendrath Years, 1960–1968
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/23/2015 - 04/19/2015

Face and Figure in European Art, 1928–1945
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/25/2013 - 04/21/2013

Dada and Surrealism: Rethinking Reason
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/28/2011 - 04/18/2011

Picasso to Pollock: H.W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis
Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum (San Antonio, Texas), 08/17/2004 - 10/24/2004

H. W. Janson and the Legacy of Modern Art at Washington University in St. Louis
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/30/2002 - 12/08/2002
Salander-O’Reilly Galleries (New York, New York), 03/12/2002 - 04/06/2002

Joan Miró, 1918–1945
Setagaya Art Museum (Tokyo, Japan), 07/27/2002 - 09/23/2002
Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art (Nagoya, Japan), 10/04/2002 - 12/01/2002

Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/12/1998 - 04/05/1998

A Gallery of Modern Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/09/1994 - 10/16/1994

The Centennial Exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1981 - 10/11/1981

Miró: Selected Paintings
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, 06/27/1980 - 08/17/1980

Joán Miro: The Development of a Sign Language
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 03/19/1980 - 04/27/1980
Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, 05/15/1980 - 06/18/1980

Cubist, Expressionist, and Surrealist Paintings and Sculptures

20th Century Masterworks from St. Louis Collections
Saint Louis Art Museum, 12/01/1973 - 02/03/1974

Washington University Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture from Daumier to Pollock
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 04/06/1966 - 05/08/1966

Miró in St. Louis
Saint Louis Art Museum, 10/01/1965 - 11/07/1965

1963
Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Weil, St. Louis

Inscription Recto, lower right: Miró

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.