Born in the Spanish province of Catalonia, Joan Miró was deeply influenced by his country's native landscape and artistic heritage. Although he was associated with French Surrealism and its practitioners and lived in Paris during the early part of his career, he returned to settle in Spain after World War II. This deliberate remove from the center of the art world is symptomatic of Miró's independence, a temperament that would mark his art as well as his life. Drawing on the possiblilities of free invention encouraged by Surrealism, Miró developed a style that drew from highly personalized and psychological references. Often beginning with a recognizable starting point, Miró transformed his subjects through whimsical color and free play with form.

"The Potato" is emblematic of Miró's poetic riffs on reality. It takes as its subject a gigantic female figure who stretches her arms wide. She is set against a blue sky and above a patch of earth—perhaps a potato field. The billowing white shape of the figure is attached to a red post in the center of the composition like a scarecrow on a pole. Miró surrounded his merry "potato-earth-woman" with fanciful decorative objects, some of which are "earthy" and some not. The figure has one brown-and-black breast that "squirts" a long, black, winding thread, as elfin creatures flutter in the sky around her. At the left, a red and yellow "butterfly-woman" takes flight from her brown banana-like nose as other creatures climb a ladder—one of Miró's favorite motifs. Beyond the earthiness of the subject, the painting's title appears to be derived from the representation of an actual, recognizable potato: lodged in the woman's forehead is a small, brown, oval object with three tendrils growing out of its upper edge.

Inscription: Signed and dated (verso): Joan Miró/ Pomme de Terre/ 1928

[Valentine Gallery, New York, 1928–31]; [Pierre Matisse, New York, from 1931; sold to Laughlin]; Thomas Laughlin, New York (c. 1931–d. 1955); his son, James B. Laughlin, New York (1955–75; sold in 1975 to Etablissement Vie des Arts); Etablissement Vie des Arts, Vaduz, Switzerland (1975; sold on November 5, through Pierre Matisse, to Gelman); Jacques and Natasha Gelman, New York (1975–his d. 1986); Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1986–d. 1998; her bequest to MMA)

Paris. Galerie Pierre. "Exposition Joan Miró," March 7–14, 1930, no. 4.

New York. Valentine Gallery. "Joan Miró," October 20–November 8, 1930, no. 10 (as "Pommes de terres" [sic]).

Arts Club of Chicago. "Paintings by Joan Miró," January 27–February 17, 1931, no. 10 (as "Pommes de terres" [sic]).

New York. Gallery l'Elan. "Modern Paintings and Sculpture for the Modern Home," September 22–October 15, 1931, no catalogue.

Hartford. Wadsworth Atheneum. "Newer Super realism," November 1931, no. 33.

New York. Pierre Matisse Gallery. "Joan Miró," November 30–December 26, 1936, no. 10.

Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Joan Miró," November 18, 1941–January 11, 1942, unnumbered cat. (frontispiece; as "The Potato," lent by a private collection, New York).

Northampton, Mass. Smith College Museum of Art. "Joan Miró," February 1–28, 1942, no catalogue.

Poughkeepsie. Vassar College. "Joan Miró," March 7–28, 1942, no catalogue.

Portland, Ore. Portland Art Museum. "Joan Miró," April 8–May 6, 1942, no catalogue.

San Francisco Museum of Art. "Joan Miró," June 2–July 5, 1942, no catalogue.

Venice. Palazzo Centrale. "XXVII Biennale di Venezia," June 19–October 17, 1954, no. 12.

Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Joan Miró," March 18–May 10, 1959, checklist no. 37.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Joan Miró," June 10–July 21, 1959, checklist no. 35.

Paris. Musée National d'Art Moderne. "Joan Miró," June–November 1962, no. 49.

London. Tate Gallery. "Joan Miró," August 27–October 11, 1964, no. 80.

Kunsthaus Zürich. "Joan Miró," October 31–December 6, 1964, no. 80.

New York. Acquavella Galleries. "Joan Miró," October 18–November 18, 1972, no. 19.

Paris. Grand Palais. "Joan Miró," May 17–October 13, 1974, no. 35.

London. Hayward Gallery. "Dada and Surrealism Reviewed," January 11–March 27, 1978, no. 9.61.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Twentieth Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," December 12, 1989–April 1, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 184).

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Twentieth Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," April 19–July 15, 1990, unnumbered cat.

Saint Paul de Vence. Fondation Maeght. "Joan Miró: Rétrospective de l'œuvre peint," July 4–October 7, 1990, no. 35.

Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo. "La Colección de Pintura Mexicana de Jacques y Natasha Gelman," June 23–October 11, 1992, not in catalogue.

New York. Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Joan Miró," October 17, 1993–January 11, 1994, no. 80.

Martigny. Fondation Pierre Gianadda. "De Matisse à Picasso: Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman," June 18–November 1, 1994, unnumbered cat. (p. 208).

Mexico City. Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo. "Joan Miró, la colección del Centro Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne y otras colecciones," February 12–May 24, 1998, no. 15.

Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," September 14–November 24, 2002, no. 57.

Tokyo. Bunkamura Museum of Art. "Picasso and the School of Paris: Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 7, 2002–March 9, 2003, no. 57.

Paris. Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou. "Joan Miro, 1917–1934," March 3–June 28, 2004, no. 141 (as "The Potato").

Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Joan Miro: Painting and Anti Painting, 1927–1937," November 2, 2008–January 12, 2009, no. 16.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Miró: The Dutch Interiors," October 5, 2010 January 17, 2011, no catalogue.

Jacques Dupin and Ariane Lelong-Mainaud. Joan Miró: Catalogue raisonné. Paintings. Vol. 1, 1908–1930. [Paris], 1999, p. 227, no. 308, ill. (color).