Flowers and Butterfly
花と蝶
- Birth Year
- 1893
- Death Year
- 1983
- Date
- 1922–23
- Technique, Material, Format
- tempera on board
- Dimension
- 81.0 x 65.0 cm
- Category
- Oil or Other Painting by Foreign Artist
- Inventory Number
- 88-OF-008
TAKE A CLOSER LOOK: Flowers and Butterfly by Joan Miró (video / March 2023) This unique video series deliberately includes no commentary, allowing you unimpeded enjoyment of artworks from the Yokohama Museum of Art collection in detail-rich close-up and from new angles.
Joan Miró had previously devoted himself to sketches of familiar natural scenes around his hometown of Catalonia when, in 1919, he moved to Paris, the center of the art world. From that time on, as he moved back and forth between the two locations, his style of painting changed drastically, and this rare work dates from that period of transition.
The plants in the vase appear to be bursting out of the picture, stretching out their branches and leaves. Red hibiscus and yellow canna flowers are visible. Perhaps the blue-winged butterfly has been attracted by the flowers? These vibrant colors of nature resonate on the neutral ocher background. Compared with the simplified depiction of the branches, the veins in the leaves and the patterns in the butterfly wings are intricately captured. This kind of contrast is one of Miró’s trademarks.
(MATSUNAGA Shintaro)