Catalan Peasant with a Guitar is one of a series of paintings produced after Miró’s first visit to Paris in 1920 and his subsequent exposure to the work of Dadaist and Surrealist poets and artists. From that moment on, the artist began to simplify his compositions in a process that gradually led him to abandon external reality in favour of a peculiar language of signs. Miró was strongly drawn to rural Catalonia, and he often used the figure of the Catalan peasant as a key feature in many of his canvases. Here, the stylised figure of the peasant wearing his characteristic red cap or barretina is portrayed full length, its sharp outlines contrasting starkly with the intense-blue background that dominates the painting, eliminating any spatial reference.

Emotions through art

This artwork is part of a study we conducted to analyze people's emotional responses when observing 125 pieces from the museum.

Joy: 40.24%
Disgust: 2.92%
Contempt: 4.96%
Anger: 19.46%
Fear: 7.7%
Surprise: 6.33%
Sadness: 18.38%
View the full study