Joaquin Mir Y Trinxet

LOT 114 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION JOAQUÍN MIR SPANISH, 1873 - 1940 PLAZA DE PAU CASALS, VILANOVA (PAU CASALS SQUARE, VILANOVA) signed and dated J. Mir 36 lower right oil on canvas 100,000—150,000 GBP 95.5 by 111cm., 37¾ by 43¾in. signed and dated J. Mir 36 lower right oil on canvas We are grateful to Francesc Miralles for his assistance incataloguing this work. Private collection, Barcelona, circa 1945; thence by descent Plaza de Pau Casals, Vilanova , a hitherto unrecordedpainting, is an outstanding example of the artist's late style, inwhich his balanced compositions show both an increased sense ofrealism and bold contrasts of light and shadow. Mir's fascination with colour dominated his artistic developmentsince becoming a member of La Colla del Safrà , when hesuppressed black from his compositions and turned to blue, carmineand emerald. In Vilanova, where he moved in 1922 after hismarriage, Mir found a reassuring rhythm to his daily routine and apeace of mind that provided him with a familiar structure in whichto explore fully his lifelong fascination with colour. Well-established as an artist, Mir hosted various artists andmusicians at his villa. This combination of activity andtranquillity gave consistency and fluidity to his work, and locallife in Vilanova was a source of frequent inspiration to him.A smaller oil sketch of this subject, dedicated to Pau Casals, isin the Pau Casals Foundation in Barcelona.

LOT 75 PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR - JOAQUÍN MIR SPANISH, 1873 - 1940 EL PASCOL. CALDES DE MONTBUI signed and dated J. MIR / 1922 lower right oil on canvas 100,000—150,000 GBP 168 by 120cm., 66 by 47¼in. The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by FranciscoMiralles. PROVENANCE Puig y Roig Collection, Barcelona Sala Parés, Barcelona Purchased from the above by the present owner in 1998 EXHIBITED Possibly Barcelona, Galeries Laietanes, 1923 LITERATURE AND REFERENCES Enric Jardí, Joaquim Mir, Barcelona, 1989, p. 280, no. 166,listed; p. 155, no. 166, illustrated CATALOGUE NOTE Caldes de Montbui is a small town north of Barcelona famed forits thermal waters, the surrounding hills providing a picturesquesubject for artists. The present view is of the Pascol estate withits eleventh-century chapel visible through the trees on theleft. Praised by the critics as the new great painter of the Catalanlandscape, Joaquín Mir found endless inspiration in Tarragona andits environs. His marriage to María Estalella took him to Vilanovai la Geltrú in 1922, where he put his nomadic life behind him andfor the first time found a real home. The town became the point ofdeparture for his many painting trips to Calafell, San Pere deRibes, la Alforja, Canyelles, and Caldes de Montbui. Mir's Catalan works are more subtle both in composition and intheir palette than his almost fantastical Mallorcan pictures of1899-1904, and are suffused with warm ochre, pink, and saffronshades. Mir's canvases of this period marked a definite return tospatial representation and exude a feeling of calm, perhaps areflection of his new-found sense of stability and well-being.

LOT 182 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, COSTA RICA - JOAQUÍN MIR SPANISH, 1873 - 1940 LA LLEGADA DEL PESCADO, VILANOVA (THE DAY'S CATCH, VILANOVA) 20,000—30,000 GBP measurements 27 by 35cm., 10½ by 13¾in. signed J. MIR lower left oil on board PROVENANCE Mr Ignacio Joaristi Lanzagorta (acquired in Madrid in the1970s); thence by descent CATALOGUE NOTE Painted in the 1930s.

90 by 80cm., 35½ by 31½in. DESCRIPTION signed J. Mir lower left oil on canvas PROVENANCE Acquired by the present owner circa 1980 CATALOGUE NOTE Suffused with light and teeming with colour, the present workdepicts the front garden of the artist's villa in Vilanova nearTarragona, the substantial property that Mir had acquired in 1922.The house became a meeting-place for painters and intellectuals,while the lush vegetation of the gardens became a sanctuary, openair studio, and repeated source of inspiration for theartist.Mir had abandoned himself to colour whilst exploring the landscapesof Mallorca twenty years earlier. His experiments led him toextravagant and nearly abstract compositions which stopped abruptlyafter an accident at the coast and his ensuing mentalbreakdown.In Vilanova, where his wife had grown up, Mir found a reassuringrhythm to his daily routine and a peace of mind that provided himwith a familiar structure in which to explore to the full hisfascination with colour.Explorations of colour through nature defined Mir's oeuvre, and thevigorous palette in the present work reflects the the artist'srenewed self-confidence. An increased sense of realism, balancedcompositions and bold contrasts of light and dark define his workof this period, inspired by painting excursions to Alforja, Miravet(lot 342) and the countryside surrounding Tarragona.

"View from a farm". Signed Obsequio Mir Tarragona. Oil oncardboard. 43 x 33 cm. Joaquin Mir is considered as one of the most prominentCatalan landscape painters in the 20th century. Educated at LaLonja by Graner and Caba. Joaquin Mir is represented at theNational Museum in Catalonia and other important museums in theworld.