Galerie Acquavella, Caracas
Private Collection
Thomas Rusterholtz Gallery, Basel
Sale: Galerie Koller, Zurich, 8th December 1989, lot 5186
Purchased at the above sale by the family of the present owner

Jacques Dupin & Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miró, Catalogue raisonné. Drawings, 1901-1937, Paris, 2008, vol. I, no. 552, illustrated in colour p. 267

Executed on cream laid paper, not laid down, attached to the mount in all four corners, floating in the mount. There is a 3.5cm. long area of paper loss towards the centre of the lower edge with an associated paper support and a minor spot of associated retouching, visible in the catalogue illustration. Apart from some very minor residue running intermittently along the extreme edges and probably due to previous mounting, this work is in very good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Joan Miró arrived in Paris in 1920 and his dreamlike canvases rapidly brought him to the attention of the Surrealist movement. Andre Breton saw in the young Catalan artist 'a total spontaneity of expression...unrivalled innocence and freedom' (André Breton, Le Surrealisme et la peinture, Paris, 1965, p. 70) that encapsulated the Surrealist principle of automatism. Miró's works articulate in plastic form Andre Breton's dictum that painting should be the 'dictation of thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, and beyond any aesthetic or moral occupation' (André Breton, 'Surrealism', This Quarter, vol. V, no. 1, Septe꧃mber 1932, p. 16 ), prompting the leader of the Surrealist movement to comment that Miró was 'the most surrealist of us all'.

Signes et Figurations is typical of the unique pictorial language that Miró invented, and the work perfectly encapsulates the artist's aim of generating life and dynamism through the interaction of dream-like figurative elements and colour. Despite only the vaguest sense of subject or narrative content, the work amounts to a pictorial poem describin♌g Miró's very personal view of the world.