Spring

This is one of the most outstanding works from Joaquim Mir’s best period. In 1951 Cirici claimed it was entitled Mallorca and was painted in 1902, but in 1973 he corrected this, stating that it was done in 1911, under the title of Primavera. The catalogue of Mir’s exhibition in Barcelona (1972) – which was mistaken about the measurements – stated it was from 1911, probably because that was the date on which it was unveiled to the public. Jardí, on the other hard, avoids dating it. A metal plaque attached to the frame says it formed part of the group of Mir’s works entered in the 6th Barcelona International Art Exhibition of 1911, which won a first medal for the artist.

As I highly doubt it was painted before 1907, it can be dated between this year and 1910. At the 5th Barcelona Art Exhibition, held in 1907, Mir only submitted works prior to his period of mental derangement, and others from the Reus lunatic asylum. Furthermore, in view of its execution, it is fully compatible with the style of his period of convalescence in the Camp de Tarragona. Perhaps it was one of the oils that he painted in L´Aleixar in 1910.

It is a large and very courageous work, in which a landscape where nothing is happening is translated concisely into patches of colour which have nothing figurative about them. There is no brilliant colouring, with everything appearing in pale tones. It is one of the works that most clearly shows Mir to be a great master of European Post-Impressionism.