Woman Haunted by the Passage of the Bird-Dragonfly Omen of Bad News

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Woman Haunted by the Passage of the Bird-Dragonfly Omen of Bad News

Artist Joan Miró Spanish, 1893-1983

Date1938

Dimensions31 1/2 x 10 ft., 4 in. (80 x 3.2 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

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

Object number

1986.25

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 03

Collections

Paintings

Published References"Les expositions: Joan Miró," Marianne, Paris, vol. 6, no. 321, Dec. 14, 1938, p. 11.

Vargas, L., "Joan Miró," Konstrevy, Stockholm, vol. 15, no. 2, 1939, repr. p. 71.

R. F., "The Passing Show: Joan Miró," Art News, vol. 40, no. 3, Mar. 15-31, 1941, p. 43.

Greenberg, Clement, Joan Miró, New York, 1948, repr. pl. XLVII, p. 86.

Cirlot, J. E., Joan Miró, 1949, repr. pl. 23.

Duthuit, Georges, "Joan Miró," Mizue, no. 570, Feb. 1953, fig. 7, p. 30.

Prévert, Jacques, and George Ribemont-Dessaignes, Joan Miró, Paris, 1956, repr. p. 38.

M[unsterberg], H[ugo], "In the Galleries: Joan Miró," Arts,/i>, vol. 33, no. 3, Dec. 1958, p. 53.

Dupin, Jacques, Joan Miró: Life and Work, New York, 1962, p. 345, no. 491, repr. p. 538.

Bonnefoy, Yves, Miró, Paris, 1964, p. 22, pl. 39 (col., folded).

Feldman, Edmund Burke, Varieties of Visual Experience, Englewood Cliffs, 1971, repr. p. 91 [as Nursery Decoration].

Millard, Charles W., Miró: Selected Paintings, Washington, 1980, p. 27.

Stich, Sandra, Joan Miro: The Development of Sign Language, St. Louis, MO, Washington University, 1980, p. 42-43, no. 37 (repr.).

"La chronique des arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 109, no. 1418, Mar. 1987, p. 48.

Erben, Walter, Joan Miró, 1893-1983: The Man and His Work, Cologne, 1988, repr. p. 92-93 (col.).

Preble, Duane and Sarah, Artforms, 4th ed., New York, Harper & Row, 1989, p. 408-409, fig. 540.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 168-169, repr. (col.).

Dupin, Jacques, and Ariane Lelong-Mainand, Joan Miró: Catalogue Raisonné, Paintings, vol. II, 1931-1941, Paris, Daniel Lelong - Successió Miró, 2000, p. 209, repr. (col.).

Hoving, Kirsten A., "Highlight: Jackson Pollock's Galaxy,/i>, Outer Space and Artist's Space in Pollock's Cosmic Paintings," American Art, vol. 16, no. 1, Spring 2002, p. 82, fig. 1, p. 84.

Coyle, Laura, "The Monsters in America: The Presentation and Reception of Miró's Sculpture in th United States," in The Shape of Color: Joan Miró's Painted Sculpture, Washington, D. C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, 2002, p. 73, 86, n. 73, fig. 23.

Preble, Duane, et al., Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts, 7th ed., Upper Saddle River, 2002, p. 427, repr. (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, pp. 318-19, repr. (col.).

Frank, Patrick, Prebles' Artforms: An Introduction to the Visual Arts, Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall, 2011, fig. 22.7 (col.) p. 377.

Daniel, Marko and Matthew Gale, eds., Joan Miro: the Ladder of Escape, London, Tate Publishing, 2011, no. 7, repr. (col.) pp. 24-25. (not in exhibition)

Chauveau, Bernard, ed., Jackie Matisse: jeux d'espace, Le Cateau-Cambrésis , Musée départemental Matisse, 2013, repr. (col.) p. 28.

Exhibition HistoryParis, Galerie Pierre, Joan Miró: Un panneau décoratif et quelques gouaches, 1938.

New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Miró: Paintings, Gouaches, 1941.

New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Joan Miró, 1941-1942, p. 62, repr. p. 67 [author: James Johnson Sweeney] [as Nursery Decoration].

New York, Museum of Modern Art, New Children's Holiday Carnival of Modern Art, 1952 [as Nursery Decoration].

New York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, Joan Miró: Peintures Sauvages, 1958, no .11, repr.

New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Joan Miró, 1959, pp. 98-99, repr. (col.) pp. 98-99 [author: James Thrall Soby] [as Nursery Decoration].

St. Louis, St. Louis Art Museum, Miró in St. Louis, 1965.

St. Louis, Washington University Gallery of Art, Joan Miró: The Development of a Sign Language, 1980, pp. 42-45, 68, repr. fig. 37, p. 43.

Basel, Galerie Beyeler, Aus privaten Sammlungen, 1986, no. 30, repr. (col.).

Berkeley, University of California Art Museum, Anxious Visions: Surrealist Art, 1990, p. 159, 160, 288, pl. 200 (col.).

New York, Museum of Modern Art, Joan Miró, 1993-1994, no. 153, p. 414, 415, repr. p. 232-235 (col.).

Basel, Fondation Beyeler; Washington, D. C., The Phillips Collection, Calder, Miro, 2004-05, no. 118, repr. (col.) pp. 172-73

Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Barcelona & Modernity: Gaudí to Dalí (1868-1939), Oct. 2006 - Jan. 2007.

Label TextKnown for his surreal, fanciful images that express the subconscious, Joan Miró here depicted three typically imaginative, interlocking figures that together create a powerful image of aggression and fear. On the back of this canvas is the dedication “pour Jacky [Jackie], Peter, et Pauley Matisse”—the names of the three children of Miró’s dealer, Pierre Matisse (son of artist Henri Matisse). It was originally displayed in their nursery, despite its nightmarish imagery. Therefore, for many years this painting was exhibited as a “nursery decoration.” When Miró saw the painting again in New York in 1959 he revealed its real title, Woman Haunted by the Passage of the Bird-Dragonfly Omen of Bad News. The work was painted after the signing of the Munich Agreement, in which European leaders attempted to appease Adolph Hitler and avoid the outbreak of World War II (1939–45). Miró has graphically illustrated the pervading sense of conflict and confusion. Of his works from this period, Miró remarked, “They swarm with oppositions, conflicts, contrasts. I call them my ‘savage paintings.’ Thinking about death led me to create monsters that both attracted and repelled me.”