Joan Miró
Constellations
About the SessionSpanning 4 centuries of global art history, The International Sale, presents 127 exceptional lots by artists from 27 countries across five continents. The auction highlights masterworks ranging from 17th century European paintings to post-2000 editions by contemporary artist's such as Mr Brainwash (lot 51), Jim Dine (lots 83-86), Isaac Julien (lot 108), Jeff Koons (45), and Lucas Samaras (lot 107 and 110). The sale is anchored by important pieces from Georg Baselitz, Erik Laubscher, Shirin Neshat, and a newly repatriated 1935 portrait by Irma Stern.
The auction's diversity is driven by rare museum-quality highlights, led by Irma Stern's Two Women (lot 31), which returns to South Africa after decades in a Berlin private collection. It is joined by Erik Laubscher's rare recto-verso painting Young Family / Construction (lot 48), an Iranian-American artist Shirin Neshat photographic portrait linked to her award-winning Turbulent installation (lot 66), and a uniquely hand-coloured linocut by German master Georg Baselitz titled Das Pferd, Im Wald und auf der Heide Series (The Horse, in the Forest and on the Heath Series) (lot 72).
LOT 80
Joan Miró
Constellations
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
About this Item
signed and numbered 138/150 in pencil in the margin
Notes
Joan Miró i Ferrà, a pioneering Spanish artist hailing from Barcelona, is celebrated for his mastery in painting, printmaking, sculpture, and ceramics, leaving a permanent impact on 20th century art. In 1975, a testament to his influence, the Fundació Joan Miró was established in his birthplace, Barcelona, followed by the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Palma de Mallorca in 1981.
Miró’s artistic journey was a fusion of reality and imagination; abstraction and figuration; and image and text. His iconic work, The Hunter (Catalan Landscape) (1923-1924), unveiled the poetry within everyday life, incorporating personal symbols from his family farm. Miró, like Surrealism, aimed to free the inner workings of the mind through pure psychic automatism, blending spontaneity with calculation in his quest for a new pictorial language. He challenged reality with vibrant colours and surreal proportions.
The late 1920s marked a period of experimentation for Miró, where he pushed the boundaries of painting with various mediums, techniques, collages, and constructions. Miró opted for the universal language of the subconscious over intellectualism. Miró's art work, especially from this later period, drew extensively from primordial forms and images, reflecting the influence of African culture on the development of modernism. A significant exhibition of selected works showcasing Africa’s impact on the artist The Magical Universe of Joan Miró was held in 2002 at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg.
Provenance
Private Collection, Cape Town.
Aspire, Cape Town, 26 November 2025, lot 21.
Literature
Fernand Mourlot (1975) Joan Miró Lithographs, Volume II, New York: Leon Amiel Publisher, cat. no. 261, another example from the edition illustrated.
Jacques Dupin (1984) Miró Graveur, Vol. I, 1928–1960, Paris: Daniel Lelong Editeur, page 166, another example from the edition illustrated.
Patrick Cramer (1989) Joan Miró, The Illustrated Books: Catalogue Raisonné, Geneva, page 167, cat. no. 58, another example from the edition illustrated.
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