Nocturne

From the museum

On the eve of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) Miró painted a series of images showing monstrous figures screaming or running through bizarre landscapes. This painting, an early work in the series, depicts a woman with raised arms fleeing toward the man at the far right. The cylindrical shape looming on the horizon suggests the barrel of a cannon; the sinuous, curving form may represent rising smoke. Miró heightened the intensity of the stark, garish colors through the unusual technique of applying oil over copper, rather than canvas. The Spanish artist Miró was part of the Surrealist movement. He created paintings with the ambiguity of dreams whose meaning is just beyond the viewer's grasp.

The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0