Galerie Maeght, Paris
Ollendorff Fine Arts, New York
Galería Theo, Madrid
Sale: Christie's, New York, May 13, 1987, lot 184 
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Paris, Galerie Pierre Levy, Miró, 2010

Jacques Dupin & Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miró, Catalogue raisonné. Drawings 1973-1976, vol. IV, Paris, 2013, no. 2632, illustrated in color p. 119

This work is executed on thick, cream colored card. The top and bottom edges are deckled. There is a faint halo of staining around the black ink in the upper register. The medium is extremely bright and fresh and the work is in very good 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.

With its jarring amalgamation of facial features, Miró's Tête explores the subversive potential of his established lexicon of signs and symbols. His highly graphic rendering of this "head" pays little regard to defining its titular subject other than with its striking red eyes, and the painting as a whole is purely a vehicle for the artist's emphatic application of paint. The gesture is analogous to the tag of an urban graffiti artist, where the economized, bold mark is the unmistakable calling card of a complex artistic persona.

By the time he completed the present work, Miró's compositions had gained a level of expressive freedom and exuberance that evidenced his confidence in his craft. Images of women, stars, birds and moons were omnipresent in his pictures to the point that these elements became memes for the artist's own identity. Jacques Dupin elaborated on the semiotic importance of the figuration in these late paintings: "[T]he sign itself was no longer the image's double, it was rather reality assimilated then spat out by the painter, a reality he had incorporated then liberated, like air or light. The importance of the theme now depended on its manner of appearing or disappearing, and the few figures Miró still endlessly named and inscribed in his works are the natural go-between and guarantor of the reality of his universe. It would perhaps be more fruitful to give an account of those figures that have disappeared than of the survivors" (Jacques Dupin, Joan Miró, Catalogue raisonné, Paintings, vol. V, Paris, 2003, pp. 39-40).