Joan Miro (1893-1983) - Passage de L'Égyptienne

Joan Miró — Passage de l’Égyptienne, 10

Suite: Passage de l’Égyptienne / The Egyptian Woman Passes

Original etching and aquatint by Joan Miró, belonging to the suite Passage de l’Égyptienne.

The work is inscribed E.A. (Épreuve d’Artiste) in the lower left margin, a French designation used to identify an artist’s proof. These copies were produced within the edition process itself and were reserved for the artist, independent of the numbered edition. Historically, artist’s proofs allowed checking and supervising the print result—the ink intensity, colors, alignment, paper, and overall balance of the composition—before the edition was considered definitive.
Once the result was approved, other E.A. copies intended for the archive, personal use, or the artist’s surroundings could also be printed. Therefore, an E.A. is a direct part of the work’s production history and holds special collecting interest due to its connection with Miró’s creative and editorial process.
The work also features a pencil signature faded in the lower margin, probably as a consequence of long-term exposure to solar or light radiation, compatible with having been kept near a window or in a location with direct natural light exposure. The copy is in very good overall condition.

This is a particularly rare work within Miró’s graphic market, both for belonging to the Passage de l’Égyptienne suite and for its execution in etching and aquatint. The composition combines abstract shapes, floating signs, and delicate black lines that traverse the image with a nearly calligraphic or hieroglyphic rhythm, in dialogue with fields of red, blue, yellow, and green.

The title, Passage de l’Égyptienne — The Passage of the Egyptian Woman — suggests a mythical and ceremonial dimension, though Miró avoids any literal reading. The Egyptian reference appears as poetic evocation: a figure in transit, a symbolic presence, an archaic language transformed by the artist’s imagination. The black lines guide the eye with a nearly ritual fluency, while the colors add intensity and vibrancy against the light, textured background.

In this piece, Miró combines spontaneity of gesture with a highly precise composition. The forms seem suspended in space, creating tension between emptiness, line, and color. The result is a work of enormous visual delicacy, deeply representative of the artist’s late period, in which his graphic language reaches a particularly free, poetic, and spiritual synthesis.

The work is documented in the reference bibliography of Joan Miró’s graphic production: Jacques Dupin, Miró Engraver, Vol. IV, 1976–1983, Éditeur Daniel Lelong, Paris, 2001, reference Dupin 1191. It is also listed in Patrick Cramer, Miró: Catalogue des Livres Illustrés, 1989, page 626, catalog number 257.
Artista: Joan Miró
Título: Passage de l’Égyptienne, 10
Suite: Passage de l’Égyptienne / The Egyptian Woman Passes
Técnica: etching and aquatint
Justificación: E.A. (Épreuve d’Artiste), artist’s proof reserved outside the numbered edition and linked to the supervision and editing process of the work
Firma: pencil signature faded, probably due to long exposure to solar or light radiation
Referencia: Dupin 1191
Bibliografía: Jacques Dupin, Miró Engraver, Vol. IV, 1976–1983, Paris, Éditeur Daniel Lelong, 2001
Referencia adicional: Patrick Cramer, Miró: Catalogue des Livres Illustrés, 1989, p. 626, no. 257
Estado: very good overall; pencil signature faded due to probable exposure to natural light or solar radiation