Study for Portrait of Mistress Mills in 1750
Joan Miró
Spanish, 1893–1983
1929
A 1929 graphite-on-paper study in which Joan Miró experiments with spare, automatic lines to suggest a whimsical, dreamlike portrait rather than record a realistic likeness.
What hits you first is the airy economy of the pencil: a few flowing, wavering strokes form an oversized, hatlike hair and a simplified face with an emphatic eye, while scattered doodles and empty paper give the drawing a playful, improvisatory air.
The sheet records Miró's move toward Surrealist automatism and biomorphic abstraction, showing how spontaneous, childlike marks could dissolve conventional portraiture and help reshape modern drawing.
Medium
Graphite pencil on paper
Dimensions
8 5/8 x 6 5/8" (21.8 x 16.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the artist
Accession
128.1973
Palette
Exhibitions
