Still Life with Old Shoe

Artist Joan Miro produced a number of still life paintings in a Cubist style in 1920, but this example came nearly two decades later. It is hard to categorise the style of Still Life with Old Shoe in which items are formed in a dream-like manner.

It would be in the late 1930s that the artist actually revisited the still life genre, having left it alone completely since 1920. He would then tackle it many times in a short period, which was entirely typical of this passionate, hard working artist. Many items would come from a spell of just a few months, with Still Life with Old Shoe being one of the most memorable of them. Miro constantly evolved across his career and in this example we find a unique colour scheme which leaves an impactful finish. Tones of black and green are the most dominant and produce a moody atmosphere. The objects within this still life can, in the main, be identified, but not as easily as his previous venture into the genre. The shapes are liquid-like, in a similar manner to how Dali would give us the likes of Persistence of Memory and Soft Watch At The Moment Of First Explosion, though this piece cannot be classified as Surrealist. Its location at MoMA has also helped it to receive great prominence within this artist's overall oeuvre.

The most obvious item here is the fork to the left hand side. There is also a corked bottle, some bread and the old shoe which sits in the foreground. Therefore, the black background is likely to cover the table top which leads up to a wall behind, but it is hard to be sure without having a few educated guesses. Miro would take on a variety of styles across his career and always tried to reinvent himself, when others were happy to follow a successful method for decades, without seeking to experiment too much or risk losing or damaging their reputation. One of the key attributes of modern artists was to try out new approaches, and so Miro's decision to continually evolve should not really come as much of a surprise.

Still Life with Old Shoe from 1937 now resides within the permanent collection of MoMA in the US. This important institution hosts one of the finest selections of modern art in the world and Miro would always be a necessary addition, thanks to his significant role within international art right across the 20th century. His paintings, reflecting this, are now given huge valuations, though it is very rare for any of his major works to even come up for sale, with owners keen to retain them for the long term. Collectors are therefore left to bid over smaller, less famous items, such as old sketches, study artworks or perhaps some of his contributions in other mediums such as Sculptures and Ceramics. MoMA itself owns many more items from Miro's career, including elements from each of these different mediums and have organised several exhibitions of his work over the past few decades.