Label:
In this painting Joan Miró translates the human body into a collection of disparate objects connected by nothing but a cross axis of dashed lines. The head is an egg. An apple and turnip (or perhaps a radish) stand in for breasts. The torso takes the form of a fish, and a leaf serves as a displaced symbol of genitals. To Miró these open-ended and often arbitrary analogies created a type of visual poetry.

Provenance

Galerie Pierre, Paris, acquired from the artist, by May 1928 and still in May 1935 [1]; with Howard Putzel (Stanley Rose Gallery), Los Angeles (on consignment?), by October 1935 [2]; James Thrall Soby?; sold to Louise and Walter C. Arensberg, Los Angeles, by January 22, 1936? [3]; gift to PMA, 1950. 1. See Carolyn Lanchner, Miró (exh. cat.), Museum of Modern Art, 1993, no. 59. A label removed from the back of the painting reads "Iles Canaries 1935, G[ale]rie Pierre," confirming that Galerie Pierre still owned the painting at the time of the 1935 Tenerife exhibition. 2. The painting was included in the Stanley Rose Gallery exhibition, "Joan Miró," organized by Howard Putzel, October 14-November 2, 1935. Putzel was director of the Stanley Rose Gallery from 1935-1936. 3. The date is suggested by Lanchner (see above). James Thrall Soby may have been involved in the transaction; according to the Arensbergs' provenance notes dated December 1, 1951, "Nude" was purchased "from Soby, private individual" (PMA, Arensberg Archives).

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