Bird's Flight in Moonlight 1967

Joan Miró made Bird's Flight in Moonlight with oil paint, composing this abstract configuration of shapes and painterly marks in an intuitive manner. I’m interested in how the texture of that green ground almost seems to glow beneath the floating black line, and then that big orange circle. It’s so flat, but it's also activated by the brushstrokes which create a sensation of depth. The black line makes a calligraphic gesture, like a swoop, and brings a feeling of joy and playfulness to the piece. I feel like Miró is in conversation with Matisse who used shapes and blocks of colour in his painting, but Miro is more playful, maybe a bit more absurd. The painting celebrates the ongoing experimentations with art and its refusal to be pinned down.