A long-buried face has resurfaced in Barcelona. At the exhibition "Under the Layers of Miró: A Scientific Investigation," which opened this Thursday at the Joan Miró Foundation, curators revealed a major discovery: an unknown portrait of the painter's mother, Dolors Ferrà i Oromí, hidden beneath one of his surrealist works from the 1920s. This revelation, made possible by advanced imaging techniques, sheds new light on Miró's early artistic career and his stylistic shifts.
One painting, two eras
The work in question, Pintura, a small-format oil on canvas painted between 1925 and 1927, belongs to the period when Joan Miró moved resolutely towards abstraction. Dominated by blue tones, it was given at the time to his friend and artistic promoter Joan Prats, before joining the Foundation's collection in 1975. An X-ray taken three years later had already suggested the presence of an underlying image. But it was not until 2024, thanks to the combined use of X-rays, infrared and ultraviolet light, and hyperspectral imaging, that curators were able to clearly distinguish a female face, painted in an academic style.
Intrigued by this figure, curator Elisabet Serrat continued her research in the artist's archives and studios in the Balearic Islands. There, she discovered a nearly identical portrait, dated 1907, which allows for the formal identification of the woman depicted: the painter's mother. According to specialists, this is one of the few known examples of figurative painting created by Miró in his youth.
Artistic rupture or material necessity?
One essential question remains: why did Joan Miró cover up this portrait of his mother? Two hypotheses coexist. The first, pragmatic, suggests a need to reuse a canvas at a time when resources were limited. This was a common practice among artists, particularly during periods of transition.
But another, more symbolic interpretation attracts attention. At this time, Miró began a profound artistic transformation, moving away from realism and bourgeois conventions to explore freer, more abstract, and sometimes radical forms. By painting Pintura on his own mother's face, some see it as a gesture of detachment—or even a break—with his family background, his social roots, and the academic pictorial language in which he was trained.
An exhibition between art and science
The Barcelona exhibition highlights this dual history of the work through a presentation that is both scientific and poetic. In addition to the painting Pintura, visitors can discover images revealed by imaging techniques, preparatory drawings, Miró's handwritten notes, and a reconstruction of the analysis process. The collection offers a fascinating insight into the invisible layers of a painting, as well as the creative torments of an artist in search of reinvention.
This rediscovered portrait, almost erased but never forgotten, reminds us how much Joan Miró's work is fraught with tensions between heritage and emancipation. And how sometimes, beneath the flashes of surrealism, an intimate memory lies hidden.
