Senyera

The cover of the January 1998 issue of George magazine featured a photo of Pamela Anderson with an American flag covering her back. Later on, Antoni Miró used the picture to produce this work, which is a singularly relevant one in the “Mani-Festa” series.

The work protests against Yankee domination using American symbolism to do so but, at the same time, completely changing its meaning. Thus, the painting pays a threefold tribute: to his own culture and flag, and to women. In short, it shows the substitution of one flag for another one, allying with the protagonist’s sensuality and ironically delegitimising North-American patriotism, which Miró has done many times throughout his career (for example in HerculUSA i DaVIET).

On a blue background, reminiscent of the Mediterranean and chromatically complementing the red and yellow of the flag, we find a pictorial representation of the original picture, around a vertical axis. Of the seven red stripes of the American flag, four are kept, but are rendered in a more vibrant red and elongated over the blue starry field. The rest turns into yellow.

The figure’s hair is superbly detailed, with the edges of the locks marked by a darker stroke to produce the effect found in the original photograph.

Santiago Pastor Vila