Ekphrasis Writing Assignment: Joan Miro at The Phillips Collection
To: 8/7/2015 at GW University
Alexander Niebler
Influenced by the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War and the cultural movement surrealism, Joan Miro created a piece of art of which the meaning is even 67 years after its creation in 1948 still unknown. Exhibited at the Phillips collection in Washington, Miro has created a work that allows all kinds of different interpretations. In the following I want to give my interpretation of “The Red Sun” by Joan Miro.
Unlike earlier works from Miro, “The Red Sun” is clearly structured. Thanks to the use of bright primary colors to a black background, the face and torso of a not proportionate person can be seen. In other words, the body on the left hand side on the painting is far smaller than the big blue head in the centre and right side of it. By doing this Miro splits the painting into two parts laying the importance on the head. At this stage Miro’s effort of placing this work in the world of surrealism can be seen. The mathematical formula for complex numbers in the form a + b*i has the real unit a and the imaginary unit b*i. So does “The Red Sun” by Joan Miro. The general aesthetics of the works can be split into the real unit which is the torso, being painted small, with rich colors and geometric figures such as triangles and parallelograms. The imaginary unit is then the big head, painted in a light blue (for the head Miro used watercolor instead of oil on canvas which he used for the rest of the work) and containing non geometric figures like stick figures or circles. This indicates that Miro does not want to show a everyday life situation, describe an historical event or show a location, he does not want to express a mood, a sound, smell, feeling or taste. His purpose with this painting is to express an idea or thought virtually, he tries to express something surrealistic by colors and figures. This painting can therefore be seen as a virtual metaphor.
The question is now what Miro wanted to express. Evidence gives the title, “The Red Sun”.
At first a big red circle is imagined, which can be found on the left side of the work. But this would not fit the the idea of a virtual metaphor, nor with the coloristic subdivision into head and torso as the big circle serves as the nose for the head. We (the audience) have to go deeper inside Miro's work and by doing so find evidence for the ‘Red Sun’ being a phase at the development of our sun in which no life on earth will be possible. Is Miro then trying to present the universe virtually? In my opinion: Yes, he does. He does not only present the universe at a special time but its development. Evidence can be found in the different circles. The orange and white ones above and under the red circle may represent the different stages of our sun whereas the black circles and spots on the right side of the head may stand for black holes and galaxies. By continuing this thought, the full measures of this piece of art can be seen. Miro has created a painting presenting the universe in a human shape. This may indicate the religious shape of the picture as Joan Miro may have wanted to present God, in whom he himself believed, as the origin of the universe.
To conclude, what I left out at first was that the upper part of the head. If we follow the idea of a head then then big black and red circles should represent the brain, but what should the cat stand for? Again our background knowledge of the painter’s work is necessary. Joan Miro did not want to criticize the political systems of his time, however he wanted to know about the sense of life. In 1948, this question was still unanswered, it came up even stronger after the tragedy the Second World War caused. The cat may stand for this question: What is the sense of all of this (universe, head and body). This would fit with the idea of the real and imaginary part. Miro himself would be the torso, the real part, having those questions in his mind, asking them to the audience but in the same way using the human body as a way to represent God and the universe. To put it in his words: “To be an artist is to believe in life”.
To sum up, this piece of art is in my opinion far more complex than it had seemed on the first glance giving everybody the possibility for interpretation. This was mine.
Bibliography
Joan Miró, The Red Sun, 1948. Oil and gouache on canvas, 36 1/8 x 28 1/8 in. Acquired 1951. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
The Joan Miro Foundation, Barcelona
Definition of Ekphrasis:
“Description” in Greek. An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning.
(from poetry foundation)
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