Portrait of Juanita Obrador 1918

Joan Miró painted this portrait of Juanita Obrador in 1918, and what strikes me is how he’s figured out a way to make pattern and portraiture collide. Look at how the background presses forward, almost flattening the picture plane. The skin tones are built up from planes of muted pinks and ochres, with that daring slash of rouge on her cheek. Then, take in the dark lines defining the composition – they're bold, almost like stained glass. The striped shirt is a total visual rhythm, each stripe thick and thin, dancing across the canvas. There’s a tension here, a back-and-forth between representation and abstraction that you see echoed in the work of someone like Picasso. But Miró brings his own playful touch, hinting at the surreal landscapes he’d become known for. It feels like an invitation to see the world not as it is, but as it could be: a beautiful, slightly off-kilter dream.