Pintura (Hombre con pipa) (Painting [Man with a Pipe])

Jacques Dupin gives the name “oneiric paintings” to the group of pictures Joan Miró did in Paris in 1925, 1926 and 1927, which is to say the period that the artist was closest to Surrealist poetics. During his learning process in Barcelona, Miró had had access to the innovative Parisian magazines featuring poems by Apollinaire, Max Jacob and Reverdy. He had previously met Picabia, who had just arrived in Barcelona from New York steeped in Dadaist ideas, which he began to publish in the magazine 391. The Catalan soaked it all up, and this affected his work both technically and stylistically, contributing to a progressive enrichment of his works.
So from 1923-1924, Miró’s output began to evolve towards Surrealism, and this would have a definitive effect on his future production. Pintura (Hombre con pipa) (Painting [Man with a Pipe]) exemplifies the creative freedom offered by the movement, which led the artist to experiment with a new language, taking as his starting point that most authentic of Surrealist procedures, Automatism. The character that gives the painting its title, portrayed very ironically, becomes part of the invented space, which almost strays into abstraction. The grace with which the points have been drawn and the relaxed, free drawing style, are the painting’s signs of identity.

Paloma Esteban Leal