The cardboard support of Rope and People, I is identical to other works in this series, but Miró treated it very differently. The hooks that hold this coiled rope in place puncture the cardboard support. The rope maintains its identity as such, but it is also central and upright, like a human figure. Its form mimics the shape of the elongated body painted to its left, even as its heavy, assertive presence suggests an instrument of violence.
Gallery label from Joan Miró: Painting and Anti–Painting 1927–1937, November 2, 2008–January 12, 2009.