Joaquim Mir spent a long sojourn in Maspujols during a delicate period in his life. A recent crisis had forced him to spend almost two years at the Pere Mata psychiatric hospital in Reus. Throughout this difficult personal time, Mir’s artistic sensibility was even further accentuated.

After recovering from his illness, he began to earn popular acclaim, as demonstrated by the solo exhibition organised in 1909 by Miquel Utrillo (1862-1934) at the Faianç Català galleries. His painting from that period caused quite some surprise and aroused certain controversy owing to his use of colour and the high level of abstraction, continuing along a path one could see in his preceding paintings from Mallorca. As rightly described by the artist, critic and historian Joaquim Folch i Torres, Mir reproduced “wondrous and unsuspected tones and areas of colour which, if they do not speak about the world, they are indeed a pleasure for the eyes.” His claim is well illustrated in this pastel work, whose chromatic harmony subtly removes it from real colour.

Mir’s pastel works recall oil painting, and reflect the importance the artist lent to this technique, which he viewed as much more than a mere auxiliary recourse for undertaking preparatory drawings. This piece shows his mastery in the medium, making the most of the tone of the paper and wisely deciding what to finish and what to leave sketchy. The result is a work of extraordinary beauty, worthy of this great Catalan landscape painter.