Joan Miró
Painting (Circus)

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Artist Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893–1983)Spanish, 1893–1983

CultureSpanish

Titles

Painting (Circus)
Peinture (Cirque)

Date1927

PlaceSpain

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions45 1/2 × 33 1/4 in. (115.6 × 84.5 cm)

Credit LineBequest of Caroline Wiess Law

Object number2004.45

Not on view

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Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Object Type

PAINTING

DescriptionJoan Miró was the first painter among the Paris
Surrealists to embrace free association and
automatic drawing, methods that Sigmund
Freud had pioneered to tap into the creative
unconsciousness. Declaring that blue “was
the color of my dreams,” Miró embarked
on a series of paintings in the mid-1920s
dominated by a blue ground, as seen in this
painting. The nocturnal tone sets the mood
for the artist’s poetic reverie, one that alludes
to but does not illustrate the playful spectacle
of a circus.
ProvenanceDe Gunzburg Collection, France; [Notizie Arte Contemporanea, Turin, Italy]; Jose Louis and Ramano Longas de Sert, Switzerland; [Paul Kantor Gallery, Beverly Hills, California]; [Brook Street Gallery, London]; [Thomas Ammann Fine Art, Zurich, 1984]; [Vivian Horan Fine Art, New York]; purchased by Maurice and Margo Cohen, November 21, 1985; [Christie's, New York, 20th Century Art, May 13, 1999, Lot 463]; purchased by Caroline Wiess Law, 1999; bequeathed to MFAH, 2004.
Exhibition History"A Spirited Vision: Highlights of the Bequest of Caroline Wiess Law to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 22–April 25, 2004.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Marked on verso: "Joan Miró 1927" and recto lower right: "Miró 1927"

Printed back labels include a bar code and the following:
"CHRISTIE'S / MD 974 / 75"
"GALERIE BEYELER BASEL / 10070 / Joan MIRO / Peinture 1927 / Huile sur toile... / Dupin 214"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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