Joan Miró Spanish, 1893-1983 Personnage Gothique, Oiseau-Éclair (Gothic Personage, Bird-Flash), 1974, cast 1977 bronze Gift of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation 1992.53.1

Joan Miró created most of his sculpture -- more than 150 examples -- after his seventieth birthday. These late works fall into two formal groups: those cast from forms modeled by the artist and those cast from found objects. One of Miró's largest sculptures, Personnage Gothique relates to both types, since the bird was cast from an object the artist created, while the head was cast from a cardboard box and the body from a donkey yoke. Through the juxtaposition of disparate objects, surrealist artists such as Miró sought to evoke surprise and stimulate associations in the mind of the viewer. With its multiplicity of suggestive forms, Personnage Gothique embodies Miró's lifelong concern with richly imaginative imagery that he said was "always born in a state of hallucination." (2 of 17)