Miró made this watercolour as a sketch for the cover of the catalogue for an exhibition held in 1958 at Galerie Berggruen & Cie, Paris. The central focus of the show was the artist’s book titled À toute épreuve which was the end result of a ten-year collaborative process with the poet Paul Éluard and the editor Gérald Cramer.

Working on the creation of this book gave Miró the satisfaction of putting into practice a highly personal notion of the artist’s book. In this publication, the original collection of poems is spaced out and completed with Miró’s own graphic works, created using the technique.

Line and gesturality play a major role in this watercolour. His spontaneous, direct way of working with printing techniques is reminiscent of , which he became acquainted with during a trip to New York in 1947. On another note, the work contains resonances of Eastern techniques like calligraphy, which suited to perfection Miró’s aesthetic and his form of rendering his unique painterly imaginary.

The power of the line is heightened by the colour. The categorical black strokes convey great expressive and symbolic strength, further reinforced by the ornamentation of the graphic marks crowned by dots and laid over a large green area, in turn accompanied by a circular shape in a complementary red colour. The work is subtended by great strength and simplicity.

The fact that this is a sketch for À toute épreuve makes this piece unique in the context of Miró’s overall body of work.