
Cy Twombly
Untitled
1961
On view
Joan Miró
February 27, 1939
The expressionistic Seated Woman II can be seen as a final manifestation of Joan Miró’s peintures sauvages,works characterized by violence of execution and imagery. It was painted at a time when Miró was responding acutely to the events of the Spanish Civil War. The human figure has been transmogrified here into a grotesque and bestial creature. However, the aggressiveness of imagery and formal elements coexists with fanciful details and cosmic implications. Though the open, saw-toothed mouth imparts a sense of the woman’s voraciousness or anguish, her bottle-breast implies her generative force. Her expansive torso constitutes an impenetrable ground, its horizon line described by her squared shoulders, out of which grow the vegetative stems of arms and neck. The bird and fish forms floating through the atmosphere become insignias for air and water, while the moon, star, and planet emblems on the woman’s collar broaden the associations to encompass the astral plane. A cohesive universe is created and integration is provided by the repetition of shapes.
Not on View
Artist | Joan Miró |
Original Title | Femme assise II |
Date | February 27, 1939 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 162 x 130 cm |
Credit line | Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York) |
Accession | 76.2553 PG 93 |
Collection | Peggy Guggenheim Collection |
Type | Painting |
Copy caption
Not on View
Cy Twombly
1961
On view
Dušan Džamonja
1959
Not on View
Joan Miró
1925
On view
Joan Miró
1928
On view