# Paintings on masonite

Paintings on masonite is a series of 27 abstract paintings made by Joan Miró using the type of proprietary hardboard known as masonite, just after the Spanish Civil War started on 18 July 1936. These works break with his earlier phase which was known as his wild paintings period. This was a label established to describe the work done during the two years preceding the Civil War, between 1934 and 1936.

## Description and reviews

Rosa Maria Malet Ph.D, President of the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona (1980-2017), compares masonites with the wild paintings immediately preceding, painted on copper and other materials:
   On July 18, the civil war is declared. Given this fact, Miró painted witnesses of the facts, but a kind of direct and violent exorcisms, the 27 masonites. What is wild in this series are not representations, but the very act of painting. The monsters are replaced by the painter's direct attack on the canvas that serves as a stimulus. The matter of funds, masonite, it will never be completely hidden. Miró created a mix with casein, black Ripoli, sand, bitumen ... [...] The masonites have the force of a shout.
The Museum of Modern Art in New York also emphasizes the violence of the technique:
   [...] it has long been suggested that these works represent Miró’s response to the emotional and physical turmoil in his homeland, although the artist insisted that they were produced "despite the current events." In these works, narrative is replaced by a heightened emphasis on texture and materials, including oil and enamel paints, casein, tar, sand, and pebbles. Miró sometimes violently attacked his Masonite panels, gouging craters into their fibrous matrix, creating irreversible marks and conveying a sense of raw immediacy.
The works were painted in Mont-roig del Camp and Barcelona. Shortly after he finished these paintings, the artist left the country and went back to Paris, in the fall of 1936, where he would stay for four years.

## The series

| Artwork | Date | Format | Size (cm) | Museum | City |
| Painting I | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting II | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting III | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting IV | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting V | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting VI | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting VII | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting VIII | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting IX | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum | Nagasaki |
| Painting X | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XI | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XII | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XIII | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XIV | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 108 × 78 cm | Fundació Joan Miró | Barcelona |
| Painting XV | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Israel Museum | Jerusalem |
| Painting XVI | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XVII | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 108 × 78 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XVIII | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XIX | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XX | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XXI | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Fundació Joan Miró | Barcelona |
| Painting XXII | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XXIII | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Art Institute of Chicago | Chicago |
| Painting XXIV | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 108 × 78 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XXV | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |
| Painting XXVI | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | London |
| Painting XXVII | Summer of 1936 | Oil, tar, sand and casein on masonite | 78 × 108 cm | Private collection | ND |