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Naked Woman Climbing a Staircase
French: Femme nue montant l'escalier, Catalan: Dona nua pujant l'escala
Artist	Joan Miró
Year	1937
Type	Drawing
Dimensions	78 cm × 55.8 cm (31 in × 22.0 in)
Location	Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona

Naked Woman Climbing a Staircase (originally in French Femme nue montant l'escalier) is a drawing done with pencil and charcoal on card made by Joan Miró in 1937. It is part of the permanent collection of the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona.

History

Miró created Naked Woman Climbing a Staircase during the Spanish Civil War. He was living in Paris when he started to attend life drawing classes at the school of the Grande Chaumiere. Miró returned to constructing the human figure to represent the drama that was then taking place in Catalonia. This feeling can be made out in the shapes used to draw this tortured nude woman climbing a staircase. Other works of this period include Still Life with Old Shoe and Aidez l'Espagne.

Description

According to the Joan Miró Foundation, "Miró's despondency brought about by the moral tragedy of the war can be seen in the violent metamorphosis of the figure, in her heavy limbs and in the effort involved in climbing." At the top right is a kind of window or box where light rays can be seen entering the room. The woman is using her right arm to try to grab a ladder – this was a symbol that Miró used in several of his works to represent evasion or escape. The external genitals of the woman are similar to those of the woman in Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement as they are exaggerated in size. This work is said to be related to Marcel Duchamp's 1912 painting Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, although here the woman is ascending. The distortion and effort of the figure are interpreted as mirroring the Spanish Civil War. Duchamp's painting was not original; it alluded to the earlier photographs by Eadweard Muybridge which were amongst the first to record animal locomotion. Miró first saw this work by Duchamp in 1912, during the Cubist art exhibition held at Galeries Dalmau in Barcelona.

Muybridge's idea of a woman on a staircase caught the imagination of not only Duchamp and Miró but also Miró's contemporary Salvador Dalí who created a homage to Duchamp's painting. His model was also shown ascending the stairs like Miró's subject.

Exhibitions

2011 exhibition

The exhibition L'escala de l'evasió that opened in October 2011 was supported by access to Misplaced Pages using QRpedia codes that allowed access to visitors in Catalan, English and several other languages.

Notes

1. "Information about the work at the museum site". 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
2. Works by Joan Miró. Joan Miró Foundation. 1988. Ediciones Polígrafa.
3. "The Tate Modern discovers the most political Miró". Diario de Mallorca (in Spanish). 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
4. ^ "A New Approach To Joan Miró" (PDF). Joan Miró Foundation. p. 41. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 June 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
5. Clavero 2010, p.72-73
6. Tomkins, Calvin (1996). Duchamp: A Biography. U.S.: Henry Holt and Company, Inc. ISBN 0-8050-5789-7.
7. Surrealisme a Catalunya, 1924–1936: de l'amic de les arts llogicofobisme (in Catalan). Polígrafa. 1 August 1988. p. 17. ISBN 978-84-343-0539-7. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
8. Rosa Maria Malet; Joan Miró (1993). Joan Miró. Edicions 62. p. 19. ISBN 978-84-297-3568-0. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
9. Judovitz, Dalia (2010). Drawing on art: Duchamp and company. Minnesota Press. p. 147. ISBN 9780816665297. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
10. ^ Jacques Dupin; Joan Mirâo; Ariane Lelong-Mainaud (2002). Joan Miró: catalogue raisonné : paintings. Daniel Lelong. Retrieved 24 September 2011. cat num 151
11. cat. núm. 145, repr. p. 70
12. ^ cat. nº 108 repr
13. cat. nº 56 repr. p.88
14. cat. repr.
15. cat. nº 102, repr. p. 343
16. cat. nº 147 repr. p.343
17. cat. repr. p.226
18. cat. nº 40 repr. p.95
19. cat. nº 102 repr. p.113
20. cat. nº 84 repr. p.66
21. Agustí, Fancelli (25 October 2001). "Óscar Tusquets entona un réquiem emocionado por la escalera". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 August 2011.
22. "La Révolution surréaliste. Fitxa de l'exposició" (PDF) (in French). 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 November 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
23. "Joan Miró. Arquitectura d'un llibre". Fundació Joan Miró. 2004. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
24. "Joan Miró. 1956–1983 Sentiment, emoció i gest". Fundació Joan Miró. 2007. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
25. "Miró i l'escala de l'evasió. Fitxa de l'exposició". 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
26. ^ "Miró i l'escala de l'evasió. Fitxa de l'exposició". Fundació Joan Miró. 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
27. Photo at opening day of the exhibition, 15 October 2011

References

• Clavero, Jordi.J (2010). Fundació Joan Miró. Foundation's Guide. Barcelona: Polígrafa. ISBN 978-84-343-1242-5.
• Joan Miró (1988). Obra de Joan Miró: dibuixos, pintura, escultura, ceràmica, tèxtils. Fundació Joan Miró-Centre d'Estudis d'Art Contemporani. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
• Jaques Dupin – Ariane Lelong-Mainaud. Joan Miró. Catalogue raisonné. Drawings I 1901–1937, 2008. Daniel Lelong and Successió Miró

• 1937 works
• Spanish art
• Arts in Spain
• Paintings in Barcelona
• Joan Miró