''Her Majesty the Queen'' is an object-sculpture made by

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

in 1974. It is and held at the Joan Miró Foundation, in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

Background

''Her Majesty the Queen'', with '' His Highness the Prince'' and '' His Majesty the King'' are part of a series of sculptures made in 1974. During that year a major retrospective of his work was shown at both the ''

Grand Palais The (; ), commonly known as the , is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine, France. Construction of the began in 1897 following the demolitio ...

'' and the '' Museé d'Art Moderne'', in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In Pasis there were three works exhibited for the first time. The exhibition ''Magnetic Fields'' had been held two years before at the

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: * The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Ne ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and ''Miró bronzes'' at the

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Royal ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. This was made at the same time as the construction of the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, which opened to the public on 10 June 1975. The international artistic recognition contrasts with the difficult situation in Spain during the last years of the dictatorship. In February of the same year Miró had painted the triptych '' The Hope of a Condemned Man''. This painting concerned the conviction of the activist

Salvador Puig Antich Salvador Puig Antich (; 30 May 1948 – 2 March 1974) was a Spanish militant anarchist from Catalonia. His execution for involvement in a bank robbery and shooting a police officer dead became a '' cause célèbre'' in Francoist Spain for Cata ...

, who was finally executed by

garrotte A garrote ( ; alternatively spelled as garotte and similar variants)''Oxford English Dictionary'', 11th Ed: garrotte is normal British English spelling, with single r alternate. Article title is US English spelling variant. or garrote vil () is ...

on 2 March 1974. Juan Carlos de Borbón, then ''Prince of Spain'' and five years old had sworn allegiance to

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

as his future head of the state. Miró had created artworks that were critical of the concept of authority, based on the fictional character ''

Ubu Roi ''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de ...

'' back in 1941 and in 1966. These works about bombastic celebrities contrasts with the humility of the materials that he used. After Franco had died, Miró talked about the civic responsibility of the artist during his acceptance speech for an ''

Honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

'' at the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

in 1979:

2011 exhibition

The exhibition '' L'escala de l'evasió'' that opened in October 2011 was supported by access to Wikipedia using

QRpedia QRpedia is a mobile Web-based system which uses QR codes to deliver Wikipedia articles to users, in their preferred language. A typical use is on museum labels, linking to Wikipedia articles about the exhibited object. QR codes can easily be ge ...

codes that allowed access to visitors in Catalan, English and several other languages.Photo at opening day of the exhibition
15 October 2011

Background

2011 exhibition

References

Further reading