Painting Paintmade between 1925 and 1927, Joan Miró would have chosen to voluntarily erase an art he considered too traditional and the bourgeois heritage of his family, according to some experts.
A scientific feat that demonstrates a break with tradition. An analysis with X -rays of a canvas by Joan Miró, kept at the foundation dedicated to the painter in Barcelona, has just revealed a surprising discovery: in the abstract forms characteristic of the Spanish artist, hides a portrait of his own mother, Dolors Ferrà i Oromí. For the foundation, this discovery is not proof that Joan Miró wanted to celebrate his roots, but rather that he wanted to turn his back on traditional painting.
Entitled Paintthis small oil on canvas dominated in a cobalt blue color was painted by Joan Miró between 1925 and 1927, before being offered to his great friend, the art promoter Joan Prats. Five years after the promoter’s death in 1970, the painting joined the collection of the Joan Miró Foundation, based in Barcelona. According to The Guardianthe experts of the Foundation, led by curator Elisabet Serrat, decided a year ago to analyze the table in depth. A 1978 x -ray had already suggested that something else was hiding under Miró’s brushstrokes.
“We had a good quality picture of the portrait, which almost looked like a photo. »»
Elizabeth Serrat, preservative at the Joan Miró Foundation.
Using X -rays, ultraviolet and infrared and hyperspectral imaging light, the Elisabet Serrat team and several organizations, such as the Béns Moble restoration center and the Pablo de Seville University, discovered the portrait of a woman. “We had a good quality picture of the portrait, which almost looked like a photo”explains Elisabet Serrat, “But we didn’t know who it was”.
R.Maroto / R.Maroto
A few weeks later, the curator went to one of the painter’s workshops on the Ile des Baléares. She then discovered a 1907 portrait signed by the artist Cristòfol Montserrat Jorba. Not only the face corresponded to that of the woman on the x -rays of Paintbut his name was finally identified: Pains Ferrà and Oromí, the mother of Miró.
Why did the artist choose to erase the face of his own mother like this? Specialists advance several hypotheses. That of the Joan Miró Foundation suggests that the painter, in the midst of a break with traditional painting and the bourgeois heritage of his family, would have liked to symbolically turn the page by erasing the maternal figure in favor of a modern and radically different work.
The table in question will be presented in the exhibition Under the layers of Miró. A scientific survey, which opens its doors this Thursday, March 27 at the Foundation. The exhibition presents preparatory drawings made by Joan Miró between 1924 and 1926, original notes from the painter, as well as a list of materials used to make Paint. Visitors will also be able to understand in detail the process of analyzing the work thanks to the images obtained with infrared photography and X -rays.