Nu dempeus (Standing nude)

In Miró’s recent “Nus i Nues” (Male and Female Nudes) series, the artist adds naked men to his erotic repertoire. To date, Miró had focused on female nudes.

In this large-format canvas, the male model’s hands overlap, resting on his belly. This motif occupies the central part of the composition, predominating over the rest of the body which is of secondary interest. The nude is picked out against a neutral background painted in dark brown.

This work, as with most of the others in the series, has basically a representational intention. In general, the details are intended to enhance the eroticism and the provocation, as usual with Miró’s works, in order to convey a critical message towards the mentalities of those who still reject and regard nudity as something unnatural. Particularly, this canvas also contains a reference to the defence of an identity that Miró sees as his. In fact, the four stained fingers of one hand scratch the four bars of a senyera on the man’s flank.

Santiago Pastor Vila