THE POWER OF MIRÓ’S CONSTELLATIONS: Constellations

Folio. (19 x 15 ½ "). Complete with 22 pochoir reproductions after gouaches by the artist on Arches wove paper, with the title page, text in French by André Breton, table of contents, and justification signed by the artist in blue ink and the author in red ink. Complete with 2 original lithographs (sheet size 17 ½ x 14", image: 12 x 9 3/4"), hand-numbered and signed by Miró in pencil at lower margin, each framed. The pochoirs are laid into their original paper folders, all in the original illustrated portfolio housed in its beige linen box, illustrated in black by Miró on front cover and spine; box has been repaired.

First edition of this luxurious publication. No. 109 of 150 copies which include the 2 signed and numbered lithographs (the total edition was 384). Miró began the series of gouaches reproduced in Constellations on September 21, 1940 in Varengeuville, Normandy, where he was exiled from Francoist Spain. He created 10 of the gouaches before the invasion of France by German troops pushed him to flee the country with his wife and daughter. He completed the 23rd and final gouache on September 12, 1941. The village where he stayed was subject to a blackout, and that fact prompted Miro's most luminous and affecting series of paintings, the Constellations.

Miró was originally in discussions with MoMA to exhibit Constellations, but it was ultimately with the New York gallery owner Pierre Matisse that the complete series of 22 gouaches would be exhibited (Miró having wished to keep the 23rd) in early 1945. They became the first new works from Europe to be exhibited in America following the ending of World War II. It was not until 1959 when Matisse decided to publish reproductions. André Breton had been inspired by the series and wrote poems to accompany each work of art. Of the 384 copies produced, only the first 150 included the 2 additional signed and numbered lithographs.

The 22 works are arranged in the chronological order of their creation, thus respecting one of the instructions given by the artist at the time of the New York exhibition. This arrangement was so important to Miró that, as early as 1957, he insisted that each one indicate the date and place it was created. This information is reproduced on the back of the gouaches with a facsimile drawing.

Cramer, Joan Miró, the Illustrated Books: Catalogue Raisonné, p. 58; Mourlot, 192-193