It is one of the most important works of surrealism.
The Catalan Joan Miro, 1893-1983, remains unclassifiable. He produced more than 2000 oils, 500 sculptures, 400 ceramics and about 8000 drawings! After contracting typhus, the young Miró had to isolate himself, so in 1911 he moved to the family farm in Montroig. It was in Montroig that he became aware of his attachment to the Catalan land, which would remain the inexhaustible source of his inspiration. In 1919 he went to Paris, found a studio and settled in the capital, the crucible of the avant-garde. There he met the group of avant-garde painters and writers who advocated the fusion of the rational everyday world with that of dreams and the unconscious in order to produce an absolute reality, or "surreality.
The surrealists advocated automatism, a spontaneous method of working. Miró had already experimented with automatism: "Even a few occasional strokes of the rag while cleaning my brush can suggest the beginning of a painting". Said Miró. Miró painted the "Catalan Landscape" (or "The Hunter") in 1923-1924. It is a large canvas, one of his most important works because it marks a decisive stage in the development of his style: the systematic stylization of his forms, each element appearing as a kind of ideogram that takes the place of language. This painting marks a major turning point in the painter's career. It is a decisive step in the development of his style. The abstract forms and lines make this painting a masterpiece of surrealism. Miró stands out from the surrealists because his painting is a lyrical and minimalist version of reality. There is not necessarily a desire to convey a message.
In "Catalan Landscape", the artist tells a story where all forms come to life: hunter, gun, rabbit, tree, eye, leaf, sardine swallowing a fly, red and yellow Catalan flag, sun...The composition refers to three principles: the terrestrial principle, with the color ochre, the aerial: yellow, and the marine with the waves, the buoy and the seagulls. The sinuous line that divides the canvas into two parts is ambiguous because it is unreal. Is it a horizon line?In painting this picture, Miró developed a new language that is of course close to that of the surrealists he frequented in Paris, but his painting is more a lyrical vision of reality than a desire to transmit ideas and messages, advocated by the latter.This painting illustrates a period of Miró's life that was cheerful, playful and very humorous. The drama of the Spanish war is still far away
