Today, March 8th, the world celebrates the Día de las Mujeres (International Women’s Day). Hooray!

To mark the occasion, the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca is putting on a day of Open Doors today, from 10h00 until 15h00. The exhibition on show there is called Joan Miró. Evocació de la imatge femenina. Some 90 sculptures, paintings and drawings from the Catalan artist’s hand (1893-1983) can be seen there, admission free. The show was inaugurated last December on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Miró’s death, and will be on display until March 15th, when the exhibition will terminate.

Women as a theme runs through almost all of Miró’s work. One example can be seen in my photo: Maternité, a bronze cast from 1973. This particular sculpture passed into the ownership of the Spanish nation some years ago as part of a settlement of death duties between the artist’s family and the Spanish tax authorities. At the moment, the bronze cast is placed in the Jardin del Consolat de Mar. Unfortunately, no-one can ever go and see Miró’s sculpture there because the Consolat and its gardens are off-limits to us, the general public.

The good news is, however, that earlier this week an agreement was signed between the Govern Balear and the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró, under the terms of which this sculpture will now be lent to the Fundació Miró for a period of one year, but possibly even up to twenty years, without affecting its proprietorship. I think it is much better for pieces of art to be on display where the public can see them, and even more so if they are important pieces by important artists, as this one undoubtedly is.

The photo was taken in Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: March 1st, 2009. The time was 16:30:36.