214

MIRO. André BRETON.

Constellations. Introduction and twenty-two parallel prose pieces by André Breton.

New York, Pierre Matisse, 1959.

The item was sold for 54 341

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Constellations. Introduction and twenty-two parallel prose pieces by André Breton.

New York, Pierre Matisse, 1959.

Folio. Loose-leaf, with a filled-in, colour-printed cover. Publisher’s greige cloth slipcase, with black printing on the front cover and spine (a small light stain on the slipcase, slight normal wear, very discreet, even oxidation).

For the Miró drawing, the purchaser will be provided with the certificate of authenticity issued by the ADOM (Association for the Defence of the Work of Joan Miró) in June 2026.

Cramer, Miró, 58. Tone, *The Journey of Miró’s Constellations*, MoMA, 1993.

A fine copy, featuring an original drawing and a signed autograph dedication by Miró.

First edition of this luxurious publication. 

22 reproductions of Miró’s gouaches, printed in Daniel Jacomet’s workshops, ‘in a format very close to the original’. On the reverse of each is a reproduction of a drawing by Miró, the title of the gouache, and the place and date of its creation.

Limited edition of 350 copies on Arches vellum, all signed by Miró and André Breton on the certificate of authenticity; this copy is no. 233.

One of 200 copies including an original colour lithograph by Miró, numbered and signed in pencil (no. 233/350).

Printed at the Mourlot Frères workshops.

Dedication signed by Miró “For Peter” with a large colour drawing on the reverse of the certificate of authenticity.

Miró began this series of gouaches in September 1940 whilst fleeing Franco’s Spain to Normandy.

He produced around ten of them before the German invasion of France forced him to flee once more; the format of the works allowed him to roll them up and transport them to the Spanish border, where he completed the last gouache in September 1941.

Miró was originally in talks with the MoMA, but in the end it was at the New York gallery of Pierre Matisse that 22 gouaches were exhibited, as Miró wished to keep the last of the compositions for himself.

The gouaches were subsequently sold and were not ‘reunited’ until 1959, when Matisse decided to publish reproductions of them.

The 22 works are paired with an equal number of poems by André Breton and arranged in the chronological order in which they were created, thus adhering to the instructions given by the artist at the time of the exhibition. As early as 1957, Miró had insisted that each work be precisely dated and that the place where it was created be indicated. This information is reproduced on the reverse of the gouaches alongside a facsimile drawing. The origin of the title *Constellations* is unknown – it does not appear in the correspondence between Miró and Matisse, nor in the documents published at the time of the 1945 exhibition.