Le passage de l’oiseau divin (The Passage of the Divine Bird)

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Le passage de l’oiseau divin (The Passage of the Divine Bird)

Artist Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893-1983)

Date1941

Dimensionspainting: 18 x 14 7/8 in. (45.7 x 37.8 cm)
framed: 26 3/4 x 23 3/4 in. (79.7 x 72.1 cm)

Mediumgouache and oil

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1996.21

Not on View

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesBreton, A., Constellations, Pierre Matisse, New York, 1959, pl. 22 (col.).

Dupin, J., Miro, Flammarion, Paris, 1961, no. 560, p. 526.

Texidor, J., Constellations. Homage to Miro, New York 1972.

Miro in America, Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts, 1982, cat. fig. 51, repr. p. 57 and no. 23, repr. (col.).

Rolnik, M., Miro's Constellations:The Facsimilie Edition of 1959, Purchase, New York, 1983, n.p., repr.

Impacts, Joan Miro 1929-1941, Barcelona, Fundacio Joan Miro, 1988, cat. no. 81, repr. p. 113 (col.).

Joan Miro: Paintings & Drawings 1929-1941, London, White Chapel Art Gallery, 1989, cat. repr. (col.).

Carr, Wesley, Manifold Wisdom, London 1991, repr. (det., col.) on cover.

Joan MIro. Campo de estrellas, Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 1993, cat. no. 76, repr. (col.) p. 125.

Tone, Lilian, "The Journey of Miro's Constellations", in MOMA, Autumn, 1993, No. 15, pp. 4-6, repr. (col.) p. 6.

Lanchner, Carolyn, Joan Miro,/i>, Abrams, New York, 1993, repr. p. 260-261.

Larson, Kay, Miro, Miro on the Wall, New York, Nov. 1993, pp. 96-98, repr. (col.) p. 96.

Elan vital oder das Auge des Eros, Munich, Haus der Kunst, 1994, cat. no. 540, repr. fig. 372 (col.).

"Principales acquisitions des musees en 1996." Gazette des Beaux Arts, vol. 139, no. 1538, Mar. 1997, repr. p. 76.

Southgate, M. Therese, "The cover," JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 280, no. 12, Sept. 23/30, 1998, p. 1034, repr. (col.) on cover.

Clair, Jean, Cosmos: from Romanticisim to the Avant-Garde, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1999, no. 200, p. 222, repr. p. 254 (col.); [in Spanish edition] p. 198, repr. p. 222 (col.)

Berkowitz, Roger M., "Selected acquisitions made by the Toledo Museum of Art, 1990-2001," Burlington Magazine, vol. 143, no. 1177, April 2001, p. 263, fig. XIX (col.)

Dupin, Jaques and Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miro, Catalogue raisonne. Paintings, Vol. II: 1931-1941, Daniel Lelong & Successio Miro, Paris, 2000, p. 254, repr. (col.). pl.650, p. 255.

Turner, Elizabeth Hutton and Oliver Wick, Calder, Miro, London, Philip Wilson Publishing, 2004-05, no. 131, p. 49, repr. (col.), p. 191.

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2005, p. 54, repr. (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 320-21, repr. (col.).

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 54, repr. (col.)

Daniel, Marko, and Matthew Gale, eds., Joan Miro: the Ladder of Escape, London, Tate Publishing, 2011, no. 106, p. 138, repr. (col.).

Eggelhöfer, Fabienne, and Nina Zimmer, eds., Joan Miro: New Beginnings, Ghent, Belgium, Snoeck Publishers, 2023, repr. Abb. 3, p. 65.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1945, repr. cat. no. 22.

Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts, Miro in America, 1982.

Barcelona, Fundacio Joan Miro, Impactes, Joan Miro 1929-1941, 1988, no. 81.

London, White Chapel Art Gallery; New York, Museum of Modern Art, Joan Miro: Paintings & Drawings 1929-1941, 1988-1989.

Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia; New York, Museum of Modern Art, Joan Miro: Campo de estrellas, 1993.

Munich, Haus der Kunst, Elan vital oder das Auge des Eros 1994, no. 540.

Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Barcelona, Center de Cultura Contemporania, Cosmos: from Romanticisim to the Avant-Garde, 1999-2000, no. 200.

Basel, Fondation Beyeler; Washington DC, The Phillips Collection, Calder, Miro, 2004-2005, no. 131.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Between the Wars: European Works on Paper, Sept. 1-Dec. 31, 2008.

London, Tate Modern; Barcelona, Fundacio Joan Miro; Washington, National Gallery of Art, Joan Miro: the Ladder of Escape, Apr. 14 - Aug. 12, 2011, no. 106.

New York, Acquavella Galleries, Inc., Miro: The Constellations, April 20, 2017-May 26, 2017.

Label TextJoan Miró created the 23 paintings of his Constellations series in France and Spain from January 1940 to September 1941, during World War II. He had fled to France in 1939 to escape the military dictatorship of General Francisco Franco in Spain. Miró explained that the series "had its source in music and nature. It was about the time that the war broke out. I felt a deep desire to escape. I closed myself within myself purposely. The night, music, and the stars began to play a major role in suggesting my paintings …." Miró painted the final work in the series, Passage of the Divine Bird—a teeming, interconnected “constellation” of fantastic figures, floating eyes, and abstract shapes—shortly after he returned to his family farm in Mont-Roig del Camp, Spain. Here, stars and other celestial motifs, strung like beads, dance across a brilliant chromatic space. As an image of balance and harmony on a cosmic scale, this painting expresses Miró’s renewed faith in humanity’s place in the universe.