Dancer Hearing an Organ in a Gothic Cathedral　

1945　Oil on canvas
197.1cm x 130.6cm

Joan MIRO

1893 - 1983, Spain

Joan Miro, who hailed from Barcelona, Spain, was active in Paris, France. His free-form style of painting had commonalities with the Surrealist movement that arose in Paris in the 1920s, and he became a part of it. With the Nazis approaching Paris, he moved to Mallorca Island in Spain and lived in seclusion. He kept working, isolated but believing in himself, despite suffering anger and despair at the ravages of World War II.
This piece dates from that period. Humorous organisms with large and small eyeballs, and the figures of the moon and the stars, float against a black and gray background. Though it looks at first sight like the doodling of an innocent child, the work reflects Miro’s own personal mood very well at the time. Miro said of this work: “I entered a cathedral, which was empty except for me and an unseen person practicing the organ somewhere. The eerie atmosphere made my skin crawl. The silence was complete except for the sound of the organ, which was somehow soothing. This inspired me to paint Dancer Hearing an Organ in a Gothic Cathedral.”