kids encyclopedia robot

Paintings on masonite facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Quick facts for kids
Paintings on masonite
Artist Joan Miró
Year 1936 (1936)
Type Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite
Dimensions 78 cm × 108 cm (32+14 in × 40+34 in)

Paintings on masonite is a series of 27 abstract paintings made by Joan Miró using the type of proprietary hardboard known as masonite, just after the Spanish Civil War started on 18 July 1936. These works break with his earlier phase which was known as his wild paintings period. This was a label established to describe the work done during the two years preceding the Civil War, between 1934 and 1936.

Description and reviews

Rosa Maria Malet Ph.D, President of the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona (1980-2017), compares masonites with the wild paintings immediately preceding, painted on copper and other materials:

On July 18,the civil war is declared. Given this fact, Miró painted witnesses of the facts, but a kind of direct and violent exorcisms, the 27 masonites. What is wild in this series are not representations, but the very act of painting. The monsters are replaced by the painter's direct attack on the canvas that serves as a stimulus. The matter of funds, masonite, it will never be completely hidden. Miró created a mix with casein, black Ripoli, sand, bitumen ... [...] The masonites have the force of a shout.

— Rosa Maria Malet

The Museum of Modern Art in New York also emphasizes the violence of the technique:

[...] it has long been suggested that these works represent Miró’s response to the emotional and physical turmoil in his homeland, although the artist insisted that they were produced "despite the current events." In these works, narrative is replaced by a heightened emphasis on texture and materials, including oil and enamel paints, casein, tar, sand, and pebbles. Miró sometimes violently attacked his Masonite panels, gouging craters into their fibrous matrix, creating irreversible marks and conveying a sense of raw immediacy.

— MoMA Press

The works were painted in Mont-roig del Camp and Barcelona. Shortly after he finished these paintings, the artist left the country and went back to Paris, in the fall of 1936, where he would stay for four years.

The series

Register Artwork Date Format Size (cm) Museum City Ref.
Painting I Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting II Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting III Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting IV Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting V Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting VI Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting VII Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting VIII Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting IX Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum Nagasaki
Painting X Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting XI Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting XII Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting XIII Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting XIV Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 108 × 78 cm Fundació Joan Miró Barcelona
Painting XV Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Israel Museum Jerusalem
Painting XVI Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting XVII Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 108 × 78 cm Private collection ND
Painting XVIII Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting XIX Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting XX Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting XXI Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Fundació Joan Miró Barcelona
Painting XXII Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting XXIII Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Art Institute of Chicago Chicago
Painting XXIV Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 108 × 78 cm Private collection ND
Painting XXV Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND
Painting XXVI Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection London
Painting XXVII Summer of 1936 Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite 78 × 108 cm Private collection ND

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Pinturas sobre masonita para niños

  • The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego, and Señor Xolotl, a painting on masonite by Frida Kahlo.
kids search engine
Paintings on masonite Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.