Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York

Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York

H. Michael Lowe, New York

Perls Galleries, New York

Peter Curry, Winnipeg (acquired from the above, thence by descent and sold: Christ♔ie's, London, February 2, 2004, lot 64)

Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Jacques Dupin, Miró, Catalogue raisonné, Paintings, vol. III, Paris, 2001, no. 796, illustrated p. 107

Original canvas. There is a restoration in the lower center, mainly in the background color, approximately 3 by 2 inches, to the the immediate left of the heaf od the larger figure. There are some small amounts of retouching around the edges. This work is in stable condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Femmes et oiseau dans la nuit is one of the compositions which Miró completed in the aftermath of the war.  This jewel-like picture♊ is populated by Miró's Surrealist characters who are recognized easily for who they are - women cocooned by the night sky.  Miró gave up his practice of assigning poetic or eluꦆsive titles to his pictures as he had done in the 1930s, and now he favored more straight-forward classifications for his work.  Women, birds, stars and moons festooned these pictures, but the artist did not compromise his imaginative impulses when rendering these forms.   In fact, it was these compositions from the the mid-1940s that would inspire the creative production of the Abstract Expressionist artist Arshile Gorky in New York.  After his trip to America in 1947, Miró himself would respond to the style of the Abstract Expressionists and begin a series of large-formatted paintings.  During these years he made a virtue of these small-formatted, intensely colorful canvases, with their splendor and precision.

Jacques Dupin offered the following comments concerning the artist's production from 1946:  "Although the handwriting will tend to become freer and invention more flexible, nonetheless his works of 1946 follow the lines established in the paintings of the two preceding years...  The artist concentrates on his figures and animals, now making them more and more unlike each other, even odder and more humorous in character ... (a) renewed passion for artistic materials produces grounds of great richness and animation, such as we did not find in the large canvases of 1945"  (J. Dupin, Joan Miró:  His Life and Work, New York, 1962, p. 382).