Le lever du soleil (Sunrise)

Artist Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893-1983)

Date1940

Dimensionspainting: 14 7/8 x 17 15/16 in. (37.8 x 45.6 cm);
framed: 28 3/8 x 31 3/8 in. (72.1 x 79.7 cm)

Mediumgouache and oil

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Thomas T. Solley

Object number

1996.16

Not on View

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesBreton, A., Constellations, Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1959, pl. 1 (col.).

Dupin, J., Miro, Flammarion, Paris, 1961, no. 538, p. 525.

Teixidor, J., Constellations. Homage to Miro, Pierre Mattise, New York, 1972.

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

Impactes, Joan Miro 1929-1941, Barcelona, Fundacio Joan Miro, 1988, cat. no. 78, repr. 110 (col.).

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

Raillard, G., Miro, Hazan, Paris, 1989, p. 113 (col.).

Joan Miro. Campo de estrellas, Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 1993, repr.

Tone, Lilian, "The Journey of Miro's Constellations", in MOMA, Autumn, 1993, No. 15, pp. 2-4, repr. (col.) p. 2.

Lanchner, Carolyn, Joan Miro, Abrams, New York, 1993, repr. p. 238.

Elan vital oder das Auge des Eros, Munich, Haus der Kunst, 1994, repr.

Clair, Jean, Cosmos: from Romanticisim to the Avant Garde, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1999, repr.

Dupin, Jacques and Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miro Catalogue raisonne Paintings, Volume II: 1931-1941, Daniel Lelong & Successio Miro, Paris, 2000, pl. 628, repr. p. 232.

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

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 318-319, repr. (col.).

Daniel, Marko, and Matthew Gale, eds., Joan Miro: the Ladder of Escape, London, Tate Publishing, 2011, no. 93, p. 124, repr. (col.) .

Exhibition HistoryNew York, Pierre Matisse Gallery, 1945, cat. no. 1.

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

Barcelona, Fundacio Joan Miro, Impactes, Joan Miro 1929-1941, 1988, no. 78.

London, White Chapel Art Gallery, Joan Miro: Paintings & Drawings 1929-1941, 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. 539.

Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Barcelona, Centre de Cultura Contemporania, Cosmos: from Romanticism to the Avant-Garde, 1999-2000.

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, April 14, 2011-August 12, 2012, no. 93.

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

Label TextSunrise at Varengeville is the first work of a series of 23 gouaches (opaque watercolors) collectively known as the Constellations. They were executed from January 1940 to September 1941—the most traumatic episode of Miró’s life. Sunrise was one out of ten that was painted in Varengeville, a small village in Normandy, where Miró escaped World War II. When the German army invaded France, he fled to Spain in May 1940 and settled in Palma de Mallorca until the end of the war. The artist remembered: “I was working clandestinely, but this was a liberation for me as I worked I was not thinking of the tragedy that surrounded me.” The Constellations series is looked upon as one of Miró’s greatest achievements. The paintings were shown at the gallery of Pierre Matisse (artist Henri Matisse’s son) in New York in 1945. They were a revelation for the young generation of American painters like Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), who was amazed at “the all-over articulation.”