Femme Oiseau (Woman Bird)

(After) Joan Miro (1893 – 1983, Spain) “Femme, Oiseau” (Woman, Bird) Limited edition color lithograph, plate signed, numbered 84/300 ‘after’ the original oil on canvas painting dated 1969 and completed in 1974. The image is 22 x 18 inches, and with mat and metallic frame, the work of art measures 29 x 24 inches.

Note: Miro’s original (85 x 68.5-inch) oil painting sold for $9.26 million at a Sotheby’s auction in 2018. According to the catalogue note, the image is considered ‘one of the great masterpieces of Joan Miro’s late career…’ as an example of abstract expressionism in which there are no features of a woman or a bird. Miro used signs and symbols in his own pictorial language, created with thick lines and monochromatic spaces in a bold but limited color palette. The composition was also issued as a lithograph for the “Miro 90th Anniversary” exhibition at the Maeght Gallery, Paris in 1983.

LITERATURE: Pere Gimferrer, Miró, Catalan Universel, Barcelona, 1978, p. 213, no. 197, illustrated in color.
Walter Erben, Joan Miró, 1893-1983, The Man and His Work, Cologne, 1988, p. 225, n.n., illustrated in color (dated 1974).
Jacques Dupin & Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miró, Catalogue raisonné, Paintings, vol. V, Paris, 2003, p. 229, no. 1632, illustrated in color.