Joy of a Little Girl in Front of the Sun, 1960 by Joan Miro

At the beginning of the 1960s artists took fresh pleasure in experimenting with the art of painting. This led to many exciting discoveries which often consisted entirely of broad movements and the spontaneously creative use of colour. In this painting Miro used a black surface on which he spread some white paint, making it appear thin and blue - like a spiral nebula in the vastness of space. Hovering above it is a large red figure with protruberances like pincers, encompassing in a broad gesture the entire space of the painting, or rather the "inner space of the world" (as Rilke put it), as if praying to cosmic forces.