Peinture, a painting by Spanish artist Joan Miro (1893-1983), will lead Christie's Impressionist/Modern Day Sale on February 5 in London.
The work dates to 1936 and is one of 27 featuring the same title, six of which feature in the sale. It carries an estimate of £600,000-800,000 ($981,600-1.3m).
Painted onto a Masonite canvas, it was produced in the early days of the Spanish civil war and displays a frenzied energy that mirrors the artist's sense of onrushing dread.
 Peinture is one of a series of 27 produced on Masonite during the Spanish civil war |
Ultimately Miro escaped Catalonia, residing in Paris for the duration of the war. There he aided the Republican cause, most notably in the creation of The Reaper (El Segador), a vast mural installed within the Spanish pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exposition which stood alongside Picasso's Guernica.
The sale takes place as part of Christie's celebration of the artist, titled Miro - Seven Decades of His Art, which will see his work featured in three major auctions this February.
Olivier Camu, deputy chairman of impressionist and modern art at Christie's, commented: "Tracing Miro's oeuvre across seven decades, the breadth of works to be offered provides an unparalleled opportunity for collectors at every price level to celebrate and engage with the creative genius and joyous immediacy of Miro's work.
"Having held the inaugural standalone Dada and Surrealism sale in 1989 and established the first annual Art of the Surreal Sale in 2001, we have witnessed the exponential growth in global demand for works in this category, attracting new collectors each year, with Miro's work in particular transcending traditional categories and appealing to both impressionist & modern art and post-war & contemporary art collectors."
Work from Miro will also feature in the Art of the Surreal Sale on February 4. Another piece by the artist, valued at £220,000 ($360,000), is to auction at Bonhams' Impressionist and Modern Art sale on the same date.
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