Joan Miró. Portrait of Mistress Mills in 1750. Paris, winter-spring 1929

Joan Miró Portrait of Mistress Mills in 1750 Paris, winter-spring 1929

  • Not on view

This painting takes its cues from an eighteenth–century British portrait by George Engleheart of the singer and actress Mrs. Isabella Mills, humorously recast by Miró’s title as "Mistress" rather than "Mrs." The figure and background are painted in vivid hues, which fundamentally differ from the naturalistically rendered forms in the original portrait. As with the Dutch Interiors, here Miró rejected the naturalism of his source imagery, aggressively simplifying and distorting it.

Gallery label from Joan Miró: Painting and Anti-Painting 1927–1937, November 2, 2008–January 12, 2009.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
46 x 35 1/4" (116.7 x 89.6 cm)
Credit
James Thrall Soby Bequest
Object number
1236.1979
Copyright
© 2023 Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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Provenance Research Project

This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.

1929, Joan Miró, Paris.
By October 1929 - 1930, Galerie Pierre (Pierre Loeb), Paris, acquired from the artist.
1930 - 1943, Mrs. Valentine Dudensing, New York, acquired from Galerie Pierre.
November 17, 1943 - 1979, James Thrall Soby (1906-1979), New Canaan and New York, acquired from Mrs. Valentine Dudensing.
1979, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired by bequest from James Thrall Soby.

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