Les trois soeurs 1938

Joan Miró made "Les trois soeurs" as an etching, and you can almost feel the scratching away at the plate, a dance of dark lines on bright paper. The image bubbles up from some dream state. I can imagine Miró bent over the plate, digging into the metal, improvising these wild characters and landscapes. What's he thinking? Maybe he's chuckling to himself, amused by the strange shapes taking form, or maybe he's dead serious, chasing after something just beyond his grasp. The way the lines wiggle and squiggle gives the whole scene a sense of life. It reminds me of doodles I make while on the phone, a kind of automatic drawing. The sisters feel connected to other works by Miró but also by artists like Klee and even Guston. Like all artists, Miró is in conversation with others, playing off their ideas, riffing on their themes, and adding his own unique voice. He’s embracing uncertainty, allowing for all kinds of surprising possibilities.