In 1928 Miró painted a series of three paintings inspired by postcards of seventeenth-century Dutch genre scenes that he collected during a two-week trip to Holland. In this painting, he discarded the heightened naturalism and precision of these models in favor of dreamlike distortion. He used artistic shorthand to render the central figure—an archer—yet one can easily detect the arrows and avian targets.
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the artist (sold to Galerie Pierre); [Galerie Pierre, Paris, in 1931]; Marie Cuttoli, Paris and New York (by 1938–50); [Paul Rosenberg, New York, 1950; sold on March 13, 1950, for $4,000, to Marx]; Samuel and Florene Marx, Chicago (1950–his d. 1964); Florene May Marx, later Mrs. Wolfgang Schoenborn, New York (1964–d. 1995; her bequest to MMA)
Paris. Galerie Pierre. "Exposition Joan Miró," March 7–14, 1930, no. 1, 2, or 3 (as "Intérieur Hollandais").
Paris. Galerie Billiet-Pierre Vorms. "Oeuvres d'artistes catalans résidant à Paris," June–July 1931 (as "Intérieur hollandais") [possibly this picture].
London. Mayor Gallery. "Paintings by Joan Miró," July 1933, checklist no. 2 or 3 (as "Intérieur hollandais").
Prague. Fine Artists Association. "Mezinárodní výstava I (International Exhibition I)," November 29, 1935–January 2, 1936, no. 44 (as "Holandský Interiér," for sale, Kc 12,000) [possibly this picture].
Galerie Beaux-Arts, Paris. "Exposition internationale du surréalisme," January–February 1938, no. 137 (as "Intérieur hollandais," lent by Mme Cuttoli).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Joan Miró," November 18, 1941–January 11, 1942, unnumbered cat. (p. 80; as "Dutch Interior," lent by Mme. Marie Cuttoli, New York).
Northampton, Mass. Smith College Museum of Art. "Joan Miró," February 1–28, 1942, no catalogue.
Poughkeepsie. Vassar College. "Joan Miró," March 7–28, 1942, no catalogue.
Portland, Ore. Portland Art Museum. "Joan Miró," April 8–May 6, 1942, no catalogue.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "Joan Miró," June 2–July 5, 1942, no catalogue.
Arts Club of Chicago. "Joan Miró: Works from Chicago Collections," February 22–March 25, 1961, no. 11 (as "The Dutch Interior," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Marx).
New York. Museum of Modern Art. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," November 2, 1965–January 2, 1966, unnumbered cat. (p. 48; as "Dutch Interior").
Art Institute of Chicago. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," February 11–March 27, 1966, unnumbered cat.
City Art Museum of Saint Louis. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," April 26–June 13, 1966, unnumbered cat.
Mexico City. Museo de Arte Moderno. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," July 2–August 7, 1966, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco Museum of Art. "The School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection," September 2–October 2, 1966, unnumbered cat.
Buenos Aires. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. "de Cézanne a Miró," May 15–June 5, 1968, unnumbered cat. (p. 55; as "Interior Holandés," lent by the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx collection, New York).
Santiago. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de la Universidad de Chile. "de Cézanne a Miró," June 26–July 17, 1968, unnumbered cat.
Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas. "de Cézanne a Miró," August 4–25, 1968, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Design 1925–1945: Selections from the Collection," December 18, 1989–June 1, 1991, no catalogue.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Joan Miró," October 17, 1993–January 11, 1994, no. 79 (as "Dutch Interior [III]," The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Anonymous Loan).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Florene M. Schoenborn Bequest: 12 Artists of the School of Paris," February 11–May 4, 1997, extended to August 31, 1997, brochure no. 11 (as "Dutch Interior III").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Painters in Paris: 1895–1950," March 8–December 31, 2000, extended to January 14, 2001, unnumbered cat. (p. 101; as "Dutch Interior").
Paris. Centre Georges Pompidou. "La Révolution Surréaliste," March 6–June 24, 2002, unnumbered cat. (p. 173; as "Intérieur hollandais").
Nagoya. Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art. "Joan Miró: 1918–1945," October 4–December 1, 2002, no. 39 (as "Dutch Interior").
Paris. Centre Georges Pompidou. "Joan Miró, 1917–1934: La Naissance du Monde," March 3–June 28, 2004, no. 137 (as "Dutch Interior III").
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Joan Miró: Painting and Anti-Painting, 1927–1937," November 2, 2008–January 12, 2009, unnumbered cat. (pl. 15).
Amsterdam. Rijksmuseum. "Miró & Jan Steen," June 17–September 13, 2010, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Miró: The Dutch Interiors," October 5, 2010–January 17, 2011, no catalogue.
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. "L'Art en guerre, France 1938–1947," October 12, 2012–February 17, 2013, unnumbered cat. (p. 27).
Vienna. Albertina. "Miró. From Earth to Sky," September 12, 2014–January 11, 2015, unnumbered cat. (p. 87).
Paris. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. "Miró. La couleur de mes rêves," October 3, 2018–February 4, 2019, no. 40.
Joan Miró. Letter to Pierre Loeb. July 9, 1928 [Archive Albert Loeb, Paris; excerpt published in English transl. in Ref. Beaumelle 2004, p. 338], remarks that he has begun to prepare canvases inspired by the Dutch masters.
Joan Miró. Letter to Sebastià Gasch. August 16, 1928 [published in Ref. Ainaud de Lasarte 2009, p. 369, letter no. 248], states that he plans to complete five canvases [the three Dutch Interiors, "Potato" (MMA 1999.363.50), and "Still Life with Lamp" (private collection; DL 1999, no. 307)].
E. Tériade. "Documentaire sur la jeune peinture, I. Considérations liminaires." Cahiers d'art 4, nos. 8–9 (1929), ill. p. 364, as "Intérieur Hollandais".
Focius. "Les Lletres: Meridians." La Publicitat 52 (March 12, 1930), p. 6.
Joan Miró. Letter to Pierre Loeb. October 15, 1930 [Archive Albert Loeb, Paris; published in Ref. Beaumelle 2004, p. 350, excerpt in English transl., p. 352], commenting on his paintings' technique, remarks that "the Dutch interiors for instance are of perfectly classical facture, and therefore, I think, perfectly durable".
Carl Einstein. Die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts. 3rd ed. (1st ed, 1926). Berlin, 1931, pp. 128, 641, ill. p. 429, as "Holländisches Interieur," located in the Galerie Pierre, Paris.
M. S. "Art and Artists: Mr. Joan Miró." Observer (July 16, 1933), p. 12.
Anthony Blunt. "Art." Spectator (August 4, 1933), p. 157.
"Mr. Joan Miró." Times (London) (July 14, 1933), p. 12.
Christian Zervos. "Joan Miró." Cahiers d'art 9, nos. 1–4 (1934), p. 14.
René Gaffé. Cahiers d'art 9, nos. 1–4 (1934), p. 32, recounts having received a telegram from Miró [in 1928] stating that he planned ten very advanced paintings [including this picture; see Refs. Lanchner 1993, p. 77 n. 98, Beaumelle 2004, p. 338].
G[eorges]. Ribemont-Dessaignes in Jacques Prévert and G[eorges]. Ribemont-Dessaignes. Joan Miró. Paris, 1956, p. 81, ill. p. 119, as "Intérieur Hollandais".
James Thrall Soby. Joan Miró. New York, 1959, pp. 55–56, 58, 60, ill., as "Dutch Interior".
Dora Vallier. "Avec Miró." Cahiers d'art 33–35 (1960), p. 168.
Jacques Dupin. Joan Miró: Life and Work. New York, [1962], pp. 189, 191–92, no. 236, ill. pp. 167 (color), 520, calls it "Dutch Interior III" and describes it as "nothing more or less than a woman giving birth to a goat".
Jacques Lassaigne. Miró. Lausanne, 1963, p. 54, states that its composition derived from a mythological scene.
Lucy R. Lippard inThe School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1965, pp. 48–49, ill., notes that there is no known specific source for this picture.
James Thrall Soby inThe School of Paris: Paintings from the Florene May Schoenborn and Samuel A. Marx Collection. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1965, p. 9.
Manuel Gasser. Joan Miró. New York, 1965, pp. 18, 87, ill. p. 42.
Joan Miró. Letter to Monroe Wheeler. June 30, 1965 [Museum of Modern Art, New York collection files; excerpt published in Ref. Lanchner 1993, p. 80 n. 197], states that this work has no specific source, but is rather a "sort of resumé of the series".
Paul H. Walton. Dali / Miró. New York, 1967, pp. 12, 18, 32–33, colorpl. 65, as "Dutch Interior"; asserts that it is based on a realistic Dutch painting.
William S. Rubin. Dada and Surrealist Art. New York, 1968, pp. 160, 169, 463, 473, colorpl. XIX.
William Rubin. Miró in the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1973, pp. 43, 119 n. 1, fig. 32.
Pierre Georgel inDessins de Miró provenant de l'atelier de l'artiste et de la Fondation Joan Miró de Barcelone. Exh. cat., Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne. Paris, 1978, pp. 8–9, 15, 34, nos. 45–48 (studies for the painting, ill.).
Angelica Zander Rudenstine. Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice. New York, 1985, pp. 542, 545 n. 3.
Margit Rowell, ed. Joan Miró: Selected Writings and Interviews. Boston, 1986, p. 112 [see rev. French ed., "Joan Miró: Écrits et entretiens," Paris, 1995, pp. 124, 331 n. 2], identifies this painting as the "Interior" referenced in a 1929 letter from Miró to René Gaffé indicating his pleasure that the picture now belongs to Gaffé [in the revised French edition, this is instead identified as a reference to "The Farmer's Wife" (1922–23; Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris; DL 1999, no. 87)].
Margit Rowell. The Captured Imagination: Drawings by Joan Miró from the Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. New York, 1987, p. 25, nos. 65, 66 (studies for the painting, ill.).
Guy Weelen. Miró. New York, 1989, pp. 9, 82–83, pl. 98.
Anne Umland. "Joan Miró's 'Collage' of Summer 1929: 'La Peinture au défi'?" Studies in Modern Art 2: Essays on Assemblage. New York, 1992, pp. 48, 67 n. 4, p. 72 n. 41.
Walter Erben. Joan Miró, 1893–1983: The Man and His Work. Cologne, 1993, pp. 192, 244, ill. p. 55 (color).
Juan Punyet-Miró and Gloria Lolivier-Rahola. Joan Miró, le peintre aux étoiles. [Paris], 1993, p. 47.
Carolyn Lanchner. Joan Miró. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1993, pp. 50, 77 n. 98, p. 80 n. 197, ill. p. 164 (color), dates it July–December 1928; disagrees that this picture was based on Steen's "Woman at Her Toilet" [see Ref. Borràs 1993] since the Steen painting was not acquired by the Rijksmuseum until 1961 and was not likely to have been seen by Miró by 1928.
Anne Umland in Carolyn Lanchner. Joan Miró. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1993, pp. 326–27, 353 nn. 320, 329, 332, 335, 353, notes that Miró did not number the Dutch Interior pictures, but told Dupin the order in which they were completed; states that Miró brought his recent paintings, including this one, to Paris by December 26, 1928.
Lilian Tone in Carolyn Lanchner. Joan Miró. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 1993, p. 392, no. 79, ill.
Pere Gimferrer. The Roots of Miró. Barcelona, 1993, pp. 130, 134–36, 353, no. 411, fig. 246 (color), calls it "Dutch Interior III"; discusses four studies for this painting in the Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (nos. 407–10).
Maria Lluïsa Borràs. "Imaginación y realidad." La Vanguardia (April 17, 1993), supplement on Miró, p. 3, ill., notes that the Rijksmuseum suggests that this painting was inspired by Jan Steen's "Woman at Her Toilet" (ca. 1659–60) in its collection.
William S. Lieberman. "Donnés au Met." Connaissance des arts no. 539 (May 1997), pp. 72–73, ill. (color).
Victoria Combalía. Picasso-Miró: Miradas cruzadas. Madrid, 1998, p. 17, fig. 3.
Jacques Dupin and Ariane Lelong-Mainaud. Joan Miró: Catalogue raisonné. Paintings. Vol. 1, 1908–1930. [Paris], 1999, pp. 224–25, no. 306, ill. (color).
Sabine Rewald in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 1999–2000." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 58 (Fall 2000), p. 56.
Grace Glueck. "When One City Was the Heart of Art's Youth." New York Times (March 10, 2000), p. E39, calls it "Dutch Interior III".
Rosa Maria Malet. Joan Miró. 2nd. ed. [1st ed., 1983]. New York, 2003, pp. 12–13, 30.
Agnès de la Beaumelle inJoan Miró, 1917–1934. Ed. Agnès de la Beaumelle. Exh. cat., Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. London, 2004, pp. 337–38, 340, 348, 350, 352, 364, 374 nn. 8, 9.
Rémi Labrusse. Miró: Un feu dans les ruines. Paris, 2004, pp. 52, 171.
Claude Laugier with Macha Daniel inJoan Miró, 1917–1934. Ed. Agnès de la Beaumelle. Exh. cat., Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. London, 2004, p. 393, no. 137, ill. and ill. p. 223 (color).
M. J. Balsach. Joan Miró: Cosmogonies d'un món originari (1918–1939). Barcelona, 2007, pp. 167–70, 266, fig. 10 (color), credits Kees Schoemaker with originally suggesting that this picture was based on Steen's "Woman at Her Toilet" (Rijksmuseum); also finds formal similarities with Caspar Netscher, "The Lacemaker" (1664; Wallace Collection, London) and Johannes Vermeer, "Woman with a Wineglass" (1658; Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig).
Anne Umland. Joan Miró: Painting and Anti-Painting, 1927–1937. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 2008, pp. 9–10, 54, 56–57, 222 nn. 4, 20, p. 232, colorpl. 15 and ill. frontispiece (color detail), notes that Miró stopped signing his paintings on the front with the Dutch Interior pictures, instead inscribing his name, the title, and date on the verso of each canvas [see 2010 Conservation remarks in archive file: this picture is the only one of the series without Miró's inscription on the verso].
Jim Coddington in Anne Umland. Joan Miró: Painting and Anti-Painting, 1927–1937. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art. New York, 2008, pp. 18, 23–24, 27 n. 21.
Charles Palermo. Fixed Ecstasy: Joan Miró in the 1920s. University Park, 2008, pp. 130–32, fig. 48.
Tomàs Llorens. Miró: Earth. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2008, pp. 91, 98, 211.
Joan Ainaud de Lasarte et al., ed. Epistolari Català Joan Miró: 1911–1945. Vol. 1, Barcelona, 2009, pp. 369–70, 417, 419.
Panda de Haan and Ludo van Halem. "Miró in Holland: The Dutch Interiors (1928)." Rijksmuseum Bulletin 58 (2010)/ 3 (2010), pp. 211, 216–19, 221, 228–29, 232, 234, 236–41, 244 nn. 67, 71, 72, fig. 5 (color), repeat erroneous assumption that this picture was formerly in the Gaffé collection [see Ref. Rowell 1986]; consider it unlikely that Miró saw reproductions of Steen's "Woman at Her Toilet" (Rijksmuseum); point out similarities to "Spanish Dancer" (1924; private collection; DL 1999, no. 94) indicating that the figure in the MMA picture is also a dancer, suggesting the three Dutch interiors may be "an imaginary triptych of musicians accompanying a dancer".
Karen Wilkin. "Miró's 'Dutch Interiors'." New Criterion 29 (November 2010), pp. 41–44, considers it possible that Miró knew Steen's "Woman at Her Toilet" from a reproduction [see Ref. Haan and Halem 2010].
James Gardner. "Repainting the Past." Magazine Antiques 177 (September/October 2010), pp. 136, 141, fig. 5 (color).
Jonathan Lopez. "Points of Departure: A Visit to Holland Sent Joan Miró to the 17th Century and Back." Art & Antiques 33 (October 2010), pp. 42, 44, 46, ill. (color).
Karen Rosenberg. "Miró's Odd Homage to Dutch Masters." New York Times (November 5, 2010), pp. 30, 38.
Phyllis Tuchman. "Postcards, and Profiles, From the Edge." New York Observer (November 15, 2010), p. 50.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2012, p. 412, ill. (color).
Jacques Dupin. Miró. [1st ed., 1993]. Paris, 2012, pp. 141, 144, 447 n. 7, fig. 150, notes that his interpretation of this picture as a woman giving birth to a goat [Ref. Dupin 1962] derived from conversations with Miró; cites a 1992 letter from the Rijksmuseum proposing Steen's "Woman at Her Toilet" as the source for this painting.
Gisela Fischer inMiró. From Earth to Sky. Ed. Gisela Fischer and Jean-Louis Prat. Exh. cat., Albertina. Vienna, 2014, p. 82, 232, ill. p. 87 (color).
Jean-Louis Prat inMiró. La couleur de mes rêves. Ed. Jean-Louis Prat. Exh. cat., Galeries nationales du Grand Palais. Paris, 2018, pp. 14, 294, no. 40, ill. p. 93 (color).
Emmanuelle Lequeux. "Joan Miro, le rêve au bout du pinceau." Le Monde (October 7–8, 2018), p. 18, ill. (color).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2019, p. 412, ill. (color).
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. p. 64 (color).
Joan Miró (Spanish, Barcelona 1893–1983 Palma de Mallorca)
1938
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