Emotion in Our Art

In the scope of humanity’s existence, the surrealism movement can be considered as very young. Originating in the time of World War I, this form of art did not gain popularity until the mid 1920s as the surrealist art was radically different in style than those before it. In Edward Henning’s “A Painting By Joan Miro”, Henning analyzes the change in style of surrealist Joan Miro over the course of his career by interpreting several of Miro’s painting, which were made during the 1920s and 1930s. This all leading to the conclusion that Miro’s paintings were constantly being influenced by the emotions that he was experiencing at the time of each work.

Miro’s style of painting was that he would paint whatever came to his mind. It would freely flow from his brush to the paper without thinking anything through before, relying strictly on his subconscious thoughts. This is where his extremely abstract paintings come from. And, the moods of the painting can be correlated to these subconscious thoughts as well as whatever emotions he experienced while painting affected the outcome as well. This is shown by the, “decisive change in style, culminating in brilliantly colored, densely composed” (Henning pg 235) style that he adopted in the early 1920s. At this point in his life, Miro had finally found a place among the surrealist community befriending people like “ Andre Manson, Henry Miller, and Ernest Hemmingway” (Henning pg 1). Finding a sense of purpose and friends could have led to this positive feeling in his paintings.

However, his paintings were to take a drastic turn in the late 1930s. Miro had a very strong connection with Spanish culture as he was raised in Spain for much of his early life. As the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, he was unable to return to his true home. This clearly had a deep emotional effect on Miro. In these later paintings, the “acerbic colors express Miro’s tormented mood” (Henning pg. 238), which were reinforced by the demonic figures that could be found more frequently and in greater numbers than in his previous art. In the end, Miro became so disgusted by human nature that he, “felt a deep desire to escape” (Henning pg. 239).

Clearly in the instance of Joan Miro, a style of a painter can be affected by one’s emotion and this conclusion is not all that surprising. By taking a look at some of the artwork found in and around UNC it is easy to tell what an artist was feeling. And although this may seem like an obvious answer, it still gives us a better understanding of what artists like Joan Miro wished to portray in their work.

Works Cited:

Henning, Edward B. "A Painting by Joan Miro." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 66 (1979): 235-240. Print.