Joan Miró (1893-1983)
Lot 123 PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT EUROPEAN COLLECTION

Joan Miró (1893-1983)

Sans titre VI

Closed21 June 2018

Price Realised

GBP 150,000

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Joan Miró (1893-1983)
Sans titre VI
signed 'Miró' (lower right); dated and numbered '26/I/67 VI.' (on the reverse)
gouache and India ink on paper
17 7/8 x 24 3/4 in. (45.5 x 62.8 cm.)
Executed on 26 January 1967

Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York.
Acquavella Galleries, New York (no. 261).
Anonymous sale, Christie's, New York, 7 May 2008, lot 178.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Specialist note

'…A deeply individual gesture is anonymous. Being anonymous, it allows the universal to be reached, I’m convinced of it: the more something is local, the more it’s universal.'
Miró, quoted in Y. Taillandier, 'Je travaille comme un jardinier: propos recuillis par Yvon Taillander', in XXe Siècle, 15 February 1959.

As Miró edged ever closer toward the universal, we see the increasing importance of external cultural influences on his practice. In the present work we see a striking comparison to Japanese calligraphy, as the artist’s compositions become at once more intimate, more energetic and more pared back.

Sans titre VI sees a great feeling of freedom in its use of negative space, an intense reduction in colour palette, and wonderfully incidental spatters of paint sitting alongside more decisive marks: all the hallmark signs of Miró’s major 1960s works.