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In the 1960s, Miró has also turned to huge bronze totems, cast in molds made from found objects, that brood like so many legendary rocs amid the gardens of the Maeght Foundation. One of his most recent sculptures is the massive marble Moonbird, who, in Miró's language, is meant to suggest not only moon and bird but also woman. Moonbird summons up half-forgotten racial memories of fertility-cult objects, altars, Astarte and menhirs. In so doing it suggests the deeper roots of Joan Miró's art. Through dream symbols and childish cartoons, through the very innocence of his spontaneous line, he poetically evokes the rhythms and the harmony of a simpler world. It is a ritual celebration of the mysterious will to create that drove man when he slept under the stars, and drives him still.
*Shown publicly only once before in the 43 years since it was painted, it will not be seen in the "Dada, Surrealism" show, which moved from New York to Los Angeles last week. The painting's owner, Belgian Collector René Gaffe, loaned it only for the exhibit's Manhattan appearance.