View source for Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement

{{Short description|1935 painting by Joan Miró}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image_file         = Man and Woman in Front of Pile of Excrement.JPG
| image_size         = 350px
| title              = Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement
| artist             = [[Joan Miró]]
| year               = 1935
| medium             = [[Oil on copper]]
| height_metric      = 23
| width_metric       = 32
| museum             = [[Fundació Joan Miró]]
| city               = [[Barcelona]]
}}
'''''Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement''''' (''Homme et femme devant un tas d'excréments'') is a 1935 [[Oil on copper|oil painting on copper]] by [[Joan Miró]]. It is held at the [[Fundació Joan Miró]], in [[Barcelona]].
==Description==
The painting was made on a piece of copper in the week between 15 and 22 October 1935. Miró said that the subject resulted from trying to represent the tragedy and torture of the [[Spanish Civil War]]. The painting was one of twelve known as the ''Wild Paintings''.<ref name="nywild"/> Half of these were painted on copper whilst the remaining six were on the type of hardboard called [[Masonite]]. These were constructed in the period of public rioting in Spain that resulted in the Civil War. Miró said this painting was about a period of unease. The painting shows a man and woman reaching out for an embrace but neither of them are moving. The enlarged genitals and lurid colouring have been described as full of "disgust and a loathsome sexuality".<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/apr/11/joan-miro-tate-modern Joan Miró: A fine line], Adrian Searle, 11 April 2011, ''The Guardian'', accessed September 2011</ref> The figures represented Miró's pessimism with the situation in Catalonia. This painting has been described as the "key painting" representing Miró's foreboding about the forthcoming civil war.<ref name="nywild">[http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/europe/spain/catalonia/barcelona/1312/fundacio-joan-miro/attraction-detail.html Barcelona Travel Guides], ''New York Times'', accessed September 2011</ref> A [[chiaroscuro]] effect is created by the black sky against which the disjointed limbs of the figures are highlighted.<ref>[http://80.25.201.238:8081/cdm-fons-fjm/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/fons-fjm&CISOPTR=6932&CISOBOX=1&REC=1&idioma=2 Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Joan Miró, 1935, Joan Miró Foundation. Accessed September 2011</ref>
Miró's choice of title was to use French and not Spanish. Miró said that the reference to excrement comes from a saying by [[Rembrandt]] who said that when it came to painting, rubies and diamonds were found in dung heaps.<ref name=vanity>{{cite book|title=Vanity Fair vol 55|year=1993|publisher=Condé Nast Publications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=haQ7AQAAIAAJ&q=rembrandt+rubies+dung|page=232}}</ref><ref>[https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:gyFY6x4V6nwJ:www.fundaciomiro-bcn.org/imgdin/spdossier/0010.pdf+rembrandt+%22joan+miro%22+rubies&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShUrYI_1r3yx2U9cWXlIvY65U150cSXBeAz04aQplMGRljNd87aS5fVHDHz1_bLSjSyk7vIUKUcL9MUpbt7yCEOjpGKvMAU_crLphXEG0ZNMltbe7Gl2N2LDhBeqwoxAbJ6X5gI&sig=AHIEtbQvuAkv9No5enzfnjLI3wFTEJDnTA A NEW APPROACH TO JOAN MIRÓ], Joan Miró Foundation, accessed September 2011</ref>
==Provenance==
This picture was painted in [[Mont-roig del Camp]] in 1935 and was in the possession of [[Joan Miró#Career|Pilar Juncosa Miró]],<ref>[http://www.thecityreview.com/miromoma.html Painting and Anti-Painting], City Review, 2008, accessed September 2009</ref> but is now in the permanent collection of the [[Fundació Joan Miró]] in Barcelona. Pilar Juncosa had been Miró's wife since 1929 and she was a supporter of his Foundation. This painting is kept in the Pilar Juncosa Gallery at his Foundation.<ref name="nywild"/>
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
==External links==
*[http://fundaciomiro-bcn.org/fundaciojoanmiro.php?idioma=2 Fundació Joan Miró/Joan Miró Foundation]
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |title=Fundació Joan Miró. Foundation's Guide |last=Clavero |first=Jordi.J |year=2010 |publisher=Polígrada |location= Barcelona |isbn=978-84-343-1242-5 }}
{{Joan Miró}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement}}
[[Category:1935 paintings]]
[[Category:Paintings by Joan Miró]]
[[Category:Paintings in Barcelona]]
[[Category:Oil on copper paintings]]