Sobreteixim 2, 1972 by Joan Miro

In his choice of material Miro frequently used his sense of touch as the starting point. This can be seen particularly clearly in his ceramics. In the 1960s, however, he directed his attention to the amazingly inexhaustible abundance of different materials and techniques, which is very much in evidence in this work of art, inspired by Catalan sobreteixims i.e. heavy, decorative double-woven cloth. However, he enhanced the variety of these imaginative creations of his home area even further.

The piece of cloth that he used as the support had to bear the most diverse objects: ropes from aboard a ship, colourful twine, fishing nets - everything that caught his eye (and that he could lay hands on) on the beach of San Augustin seemed to be a welcome opportunity to exercise his creative playfulness. In addition, there are of course several elementary symbols, partly painted, pardy woven into the material, rounding off the heterogeneity of this tapestry in a pictorial cosmos that is typical of Miro again.