''May 1968'' is a painting by

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...

which he created between 1968 and 1973. It is part of the permanent collection of the

Fundació Joan Miró The Fundació Joan Miró ( ; "Joan Miró Foundation, Centre of Studies of Contemporary Art") is a museum of modern art honoring Joan Miró located on the hill called Montjuïc in Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain). History The idea for the foundation w ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. The painting was inspired by the unrest in France in 1968.

History

Jacques Dupin Jacques Dupin (4 March 1927, Privas, Ardèche – 27 October 2012, Paris) was a French poet, art critic, and co-founder of the journal '' L'éphemère''. Dupin was born in the town of Privas in the South of France, where his father was a psychi ...

spoke of the circumstances under which the artist made this work: The paintings of this ''effervescent'' period were part of a retrospective exhibition for the seventy-fifth anniversary of the artist, which took place at the

Maeght Foundation The Maeght Foundation or Fondation Maeght () is a museum of modern art on the ''Colline des Gardettes'', a hill overlooking Saint-Paul de Vence in the southeast of France about from Nice. It was established by Marguerite and Aimé Maeght in 1 ...

, the Miró Foundation and

Cathedral of Barcelona The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia ( ca, Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia), also known as Barcelona Cathedral, is the Gothic cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The cathedral was constr ...

and

Haus der Kunst The ''Haus der Kunst'' (, ''House of Art'') is a non-collecting modern and contemporary art museum in Munich, Germany. It is located at Prinzregentenstraße 1 at the southern edge of the Englischer Garten, Munich's largest park. History Na ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. During this time, Miró's work was booming. The period climaxed in 1973, with a series of paintings carved with knives and burned with

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

and Chalumu.

Background

In the spring of 1968 students from the universities of

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

and

Nanterre Nanterre (, ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, bordering t ...

revolted in continuing demonstrations that lasted almost a month and a half. This revolt inspired the workers to strike. It was known as the ''French May'' and

May 68 Beginning in May 1968, a period of civil unrest occurred throughout France, lasting some seven weeks and punctuated by demonstrations, general strikes, as well as the occupation of universities and factories. At the height of events, which ha ...

sympathized with the movement and made this work, a wall where the vitality and prints are ideal for those events.

Description

On a white background, the artist made brightly coloured stains in the range typical of this period: blue, red, green, yellow and orange. These patches of colour are crushed by thick coloured black lines. This set is superimposed in the foreground a large black spot. With fingers imagined as the drip lines of black, mimicking the impact of a ball or jet black paint.

History

Background

Description

Main exhibitions

References

Further reading