Joan Miró—the Surrealist famous for his biomorphic and abstract paintings—was also a prolific printmaker, creating over 1,000 lithographs over the course of his career. Indeed, Miró’s first prints were lithographs, a printmaking method that enables artists to draw directly on a stone slab or metal plate. Created in 1930, these early lithographs accompanied a book of poetry by Tristan Tzara and jumpstarted Miró’s lifelong love of the lithography technique. From from 1954 to 1958, Miró nearly gave up painting altogether to focus on these prints, earning him the Grand Prize for Graphic Work at the Venice Biennale in 1954. Some of Miró’s lithographs, such as his collaborations with the fine art publisher Derrière le Miroir, recreate his paintings on paper, while many others, such as his 1944 “Barcelona” series, are entirely new designs that explore the possibilities of the lithography technique.

A print from the portfolio La Melodie Acide which includes 14 lithographs on 13 x 10 inch arches paper, plate signed, and hand numbered out of 1500.
Melodie Acide (Acid Melody, 1980), has been reproduced as a series of 14 Lithographs within a catalogue raisonnÈ. In this series, a single form provides the leading tone throughout each print. The forms are melodious and colorful, scribbled and swabbed - while balanced with the acidity of the lithography technique which sinks into the plate and gives rich form to the colors. Further, as we know Miro, there is a fresh and simple balance between the striking colors and the dark, between the thickness of the black swabs of paint and the whimsical pencil curls, the attempt at geometry and the circular. These playful pieces are at once abstract and figurative.