Joan Mirò, Ubu aux Baleares, Colour lithograph on Arches paper, 50,5x66,5 cm, 1971

Lithograph of 1971 by the surrealist artist Joan Mirò, the work belongs to the album "Ubu aux Balèares", composed of twenty-three numbered and signed lithographs. Each lithograph has a print run of 120 copies.

The suite recounts the various adventures of the theatrical character Ubu, born from the imagination of Alfred Jarry. An extremely grotesque figure, he anticipates the tendencies of surrealism, dada and theatre of the absurd. Satirical to the cruellest extreme, an emblem of the lowest human instincts and a fierce symbol of obtuse and arrogant power. Many contemporary artists were inspired by this mask of contemporary theatre, from Enrico Baj to Max Ernst, and Mirò was also fascinated by what it symbolised: a harsh criticism of the authorities of the time, of that narrow elite attached to power and interested only in their own personal gain at the expense of the rest of society.

Mirò, as is typical of his style, enhances the childish representation, which brings us back to the genesis of Ubu, born from the scribblings of a very young Jarry.

Hand-signed by the artist and numbered 35/120, published in the catalogue edited by Maeght Editore.