Joan Miró’s Galatea (1976) is a luminous testament to the artist’s late-career mastery, where simplicity of form and brilliance of color converge into a work of profound poetic resonance.

Created at a time when Miró had distilled his visual language to its most essential and symbolic elements, Galatea radiates an almost musical harmony. Bold gestural lines intersect with vibrant bursts of primary hues—red, blue, yellow, and green—each floating with an airy independence yet tethered by an invisible rhythm. The title evokes the myth of Galatea, the sea nymph of classical antiquity, but Miró transforms the reference into an abstract and dreamlike presence, one that suggests transformation, vitality, and the eternal dance between the human spirit and the cosmos. Executed with the freedom and confidence of an artist at the height of his expressive powers, Galatea embodies Miró’s lifelong pursuit of purity in art—a desire to capture the essence of existence through playful invention and deep lyricism. It is at once childlike in its spontaneity and timeless in its universal poetry, offering a glimpse into Miró’s vision of art as an open gateway to imagination and wonder.

Full of saturated primary colors and playful lines, Joan Miró Galatea, 1976 is an exemplary work by Joan Miró. The juxtaposition between broad black strokes and thin delicate lines adds a sense of depth without using representational perspective. The solid black circular shape thickly outlined in red at the center of the composition is formally echoed in the black teardrop outline and larger circular outline that nearly extends to the edges of the work. The amalgamation of solid colors and heavy dark lines creates a bold and visually complex composition.

Through the title of the work Galatea, Miró imbues abstraction with mythological significance. In Greek mythology, the name Galatea refers to the ivory statue with whom Pygmalion of Cyprus falls in love and marries after Aphrodite gives it life.

And thus in this etching, Miró invites a meditation on the relationship between the visual characteristics of the work and the myth to which the title alludes.

Created in 1976, this etching, aquatint and embossing on Arches is hand-signed by Joan Miró (Barcelona, 1893-Palma, 1983) in pencil in the lower right and numbered from the edition of 50 in pencil in the lower left.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:

Joan Miró Galatea, 1976 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the etching).

1. Dupin, Jacques and Ariane Lelong-Mainaud. Miró Engraver Vol. IV, 1976-1983. New York: Rizzoli, 1989. Listed and illustrated as catalogue raisonné no. 931 on page 25.
2. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this etching.

About the Framing:

Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Joan Miró Galatea, 1976 is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.