La poli a Rio Janeiro (Police in Rio de Janeiro)

Brazil’s troubled political situation in 2014, together with the country’s huge social inequalities, led to frequent mass demonstrations. The police brutally put down many of these protests. The world’s media coverage of the clashes led to international rejection. With this scene, Miró denounces this context of social oppression.

The composition employs a dense, dark mass of policemen on the left. Facing them is a sole, unarmed activist who is being attacked. The key element is the crossed gazes of the riot police, and the activist who stretches out his arm in a peaceful gesture. The work is read horizontally as a duel of opposites: the group attacks the individual; the violent attack against a man begging for mercy; the overprotected versus the defenceless.

Everything takes place on a piece of ground that is an interpretation of the original, but that also admits the presence of anecdotic details. There is a reticular ground combined with a yellow line just in front of the police, suggesting a line that they should not overstep. There are remnants of dirt and other objects on the ground.

The artist eloquently places three lines in the picture to stress the threatening left-right axis. The first, above the figures, is an arrow painted in grey, as if it had been drawn with a pencil. The second line is halfway up the canvas and is formed by three elements: a police gun, the colourful effects of a shot, and the outstretched arms of the demonstrator. The third line is a red strip that serves as a ‘skirting board’ for the ground, forming the lower bound of a neutral whitish background that is topped by bluish watercolour tones. Miró’s use of this simplified background and the addition of other elements to complement the presence of the figures focus our attention on what is happening in the scene.

Santiago Pastor Vila