The Red Disk

The Red Disk was completed by Joan Miro in around 1960. It is a delightfully expressive artwork, in which the abstract style used by this artist produces something similar to a night sky.

This constellation feels familiar with a single red disk that is chosen as the title for the piece. Miro regularly depicted the sun in this way, but the interesting elements of The Red Disk are found elsewhere. Behind it is a flurry of which paint and these two additions ultimately sit atop a black background, giving this cosmos like appearance. There is then a whole flurry of random touches of paint right across the scene that will remind many of stars and planets which lay much further away in the distance. The overall piece is entirely Miro, particularly when delivered in such a limited palette, but some will also draw a connection to the work of American Expressionist, Jackson Pollock. He gifted us classic modern art, such as Blue Poles, Number 1 (Lavender Mist) and Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) and will always be most famous for his drip painting technique.

Miro would develop and evolve right across his career, from a fairly traditional artist in the early days to someone who achieved a perfect level of abstraction towards the end. His influence was key in modern art starting to settle and thrive, having initially been rejected by academics when it first started to appear in the early 20th century. Miro worked alongside others to spread ideas and techniques, and they would also exhibit together, whilst being mindful as to not lose their own respective identities. Today we all hold this artist in great regard, but it is wrong to say that he achieved success and backing straight away. It was a conscious choice to work with new methods, and Miro entirely understood that this was not the easy path that he chose to follow, far from it. Today his paintings achieve astronomical sums, on the rare occasions that they come up for sale.

Modern art is perhaps more popular today than any other style and it is those from the early to mid 20th century who perhaps receive the most respect from across the board. They essentially helped to mould this new world, and most of this success was initially achieved within Europe, before then being taken of further by a number of important American artists. They would play an important role in progressing things onwards but most had a good understanding and deep respect for the work of artists from previous centuries, but merely wanted to add something new rather than rehashing ideas that had already been around for many centuries.