JOAN MIRÓ (1893-1983)

The plates for Ocells de Montroig or Birds of Montroig were made by Miro in 1979 at the print studio of Joan Barbará, Barcelona. Produced late in the artist’s life, the series reveals his imagination undimmed by the physical constraints of age. The title is a double entendre - the Catalan word 'ocells’ (birds) is also used colloquially to denote male genitalia – and the swirling and seemingly abstract forms are imbued with a playfully suggestive eroticism. The edition was not realised before the artist’s death, and these rare proofs, signed and inscribed bon á tirer by the artist, are the only known, signed life-time impressions.