Untitled [plate IX] 1958

This is an untitled print by Joan Miró. It is full of colourful shapes and lines that are playful and free. Look at how Miró used color. The reds, greens, yellows, and blues are bright and kind of flat, which gives the image a graphic, almost childlike feel. The texture is also interesting, it looks like he might have used a woodblock or some other kind of printmaking technique, you can see the grain and imperfections. These aren’t flaws, they’re part of what makes the print unique. My eye keeps going to that blob of green there on the right. It’s solid and textured, like a little planet floating in space. That blob is the anchor for all of the other little motifs floating around, and it gives the whole composition weight. Miró reminds me a bit of Klee, especially in the way he reduces figures and landscapes to their most basic forms, like a universal visual language. It’s all about experimentation, and that’s what keeps art alive.