Horse, Pipe, and Red Flower belongs to a small number of still lifes that the Catalan artist Joan Miró painted while at home in the village of Montroig during the summer of 1920. That spring Miró had made his first trip to Paris, a four-month stay inspiring him with a confidence that bore fruit in his next paintings, the first true masterpieces of his long career. This joyful work captures a moment of profound transition for the twenty-seven-year-old artist. The exuberant color, clamorous patterning, and crowded composition are characteristic of his earlier paintings, while the toy horse and long clay pipe lend a Catalan flavor to the scene. But the complex configuration of the forms, the unconventional vantage point, and the background's resemblance to Cubist collage prove Miró's close attention to the avant-garde painting he had seen in Paris. He focused especially on Picasso, whom he had met during the spring of 1920. The book on the table advertises this association: it faithfully represents the small volume Le coq et l'arlequin by Jean Cocteau, illustrated with line drawings by Picasso. By audaciously incorporating Picasso's drawing in his own painting, Miró proudly announced his membership in the international avant-garde. Melissa Kerr, from Masterpieces from the Philadelphia Museum of Art: Impressionism and Modern Art (2007), p. 178.