L´horloge du vent (Wind Clock)

Joan Miró

Barcelona, Spain, 1893 - Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 1983
  • Date: 
    1967
  • Material: 
    Bronze
  • Technique: 
    Lost-wax casting and patinated
  • Dimensions: 
    49,5 x 29,5 x 16 cm
  • Edition/serial number: 
    Nominative copy
  • Category: 
    Sculpture
  • Entry date: 
    1988
  • Register number: 
    AS10541

With their connection to his declared intent to “murder painting”, Joan Miró’s group of constructions and object-sculptures done in the 1930s constitutes his main contribution to surrealist sculpture. These works were born of his need to keep searching for new applications for surrealist automatism and his interest in breaking away not only from painting’s flatness but also from all the traditional basics of plastic representation. When the artist began sculpting again in the 1960s, he did so using the same precepts, but adding a patina finish to the work, which in a way covers up its objectual origin and emphasises its sculptural aspect. L´horloge du vent (Wind Clock) is a demonstration of the poetic possibilities that can be lent to everyday objects, in this case a hatbox and a wooden spoon. The square box forms the main body of the clock, the clock face is suggested by the round shape inside, and the spoon is reminiscent of a single hand, like that on a sundial. The title makes a direct connection, despite the lateness of the piece, to the word games of surrealist poetry that inspired his early work: although the object demonstrates its own uselessness, its title connects it to archaic instruments built to understand space and time, such as the sundial and the wind rose.

Carmen Fernández Aparicio

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