Between 1924 and 1927, Miró created a group of paintings that are radically different from his earlier work. Known as peinture-poésie, these canvases, with broad and loosely brushed fields of color, are animated by just a few enigmatic signs. They are linked to his association, in the early 1920s, with the poets who later joined the Surrealist movement. The poets were the friends of his neighbor, the painter André Breton.

The present picture, with its simple composition, is the most evocative of these works. Only three elements float on the empty white canvas: the word "Photo," the patch of blue, and the sentence "ceci est la couleur de mes rêves" (this is the color of my dreams). The black letters sit on faint, barely visible pencil lines that serve as guides for their sizes, as in a child's writing primer. When asked by the writer Georges Raillard about the meaning of the word "Photo," Miró said, "I started with the idea of a photo—I don't remember at all what photo it was. I did neither a collage nor a reproduction of it. I simply painted the word 'photo.'"

This painting had an illustrious chain of owners beginning with the poet Jacques Viot, who acted as the artist's first dealer in Paris.

Signature: L.R.: Miro/1925

Inscription: on verso: Joan Miro / 1925

[Jacques Viot of Galerie Pierre (Pierre Loeb), Paris (acquired from the artist, late October or early November 1925)]; Max Ernst, Paris (likely acquired from Viot, by 1927); Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985), Paris (1932-37) and Basel (likely acquired from Ernst in the 1930s); James Johnson Sweeney (1900-1986), New York (by 1964 - sold to Pierre Matisse Gallery in December 1968); [Pierre Matisse, New York (December 1968, stock no. 7649 - his d. 1989)]; his widow, Maria-Gaetana Matisse, née von Spreti, New York (1989 - her d. 2001); Pierre and Maria Gaetana Matisse Foundation (2002; gift to MMA).

"Joan Miró," Tate Gallery, London, August 27-October 11, 1964, exh. cat., preface by G. W., introduction by Roland Penrose, no. 48, pp. 7, 24; "Joan Miró," Casino Communal, Knokke, June 26-August 29, 1971, exh. cat. with essay by Gaëton Picon, no. 7; "Der Surrealismus 1922-1942," Haus der Kunst, Munich, March 11-May 7, 1972, exh. cat. with preface by Pierre Schneider, no. 325, ill. n.p.; "Le Surréalisme, 1922-1942" (venue of Munich 1972), Musées des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, June 9-September 24, 1972, exh. cat. by Patrick Waldberg, no. 310, ill. n.p.; "Joan Miró: Magnetic Fields," Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, October 27, 1972-January 21, 1973, exh. cat. by Rosalind Krauss and Margit Rowell, no. 14, pp. 15 (n. 13), 60-61, 65, 96-97, ill.; "Joan Miró," Galeries Nationales d'Exposition du Grand Palais, Paris, May 17-October 13, 1974, exh. cat. with preface by Jean Leymarie, essay by Jacques Dupin, texts and poems about Miró by André Breton, René Char, Paul Éluard, André Frénaud, Alberto Giacometti, Michel Leiris, Jacques Prévert, and Raymond Queneau, no. 25, p. 116; "Joan Miró" (venue of Grand Palais 1974), Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, November 9, 1974-January 12, 1975, exh. cat. published in Louisiana Revy, vol. 15, no. 3 (November 1974), with foreword by Steingrim Laursen, essays by Jean Leymarie, Joan Miro, David Sylvester, Dean Swanson, André Frénaud, Jacques Dupin, Antoni Tàpies, Richard Mortensen, and Eugène Ionesco, and poems by Paul Eluard, Jacques Prévert, Michel Leiris, and René Char, no. 8, p. 40; "Dada & Surrealism Reviewed," The Hayward Gallery, London, January 11-March 27, 1978, exh. cat. ed. by Dawn Ades, with introduction by David Sylvester, and essays by Dawn Ades and Elizabeth Cowling, no. 9.54, ill. p. 218; "Joan Miró: Pintura," Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid, May 4-July 23, 1978, organized in collaboration with the Fundació Joan Miró, exh. cat. by Maria Ageles Dueñas, Rosa Maria Malet, and Francesc Vicens, with essays by Julián Gálego, and excerpts from texts by Jacques Dupin, James Johnson Sweeney, Francesc Vicens, Alexandre Circisi, and Roland Penrose, no. 21, pp. 98-99; "Joan Miró," Sa Llotja, Palma de Mallorca, September 4 - October, 1978, no. 13; "Miró in America," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 21-June 27, 1982, exh. cat. by Barbara Rose, with essays by Judith McCandless and Duncan Macmillian, interview with Miró by Barbara Rose, and reprints of texts by various authors, no. 7, pp. 16, 75 (ill.); "Joan Miró: Anys vint: Mutació de la realitat," Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, May-June, 1983, exh. cat. with essays by Joan Miró, Antoni Tàpies, Jacques Dupin, and Rosa Maria Malet, no. 69, pp. 31, 53 (ill.), 88, 119, 129; "Joan Miró: años veinte. Mutación de la realidad" (venue of Barcelona 1983), Museo Español de Arte Contemporàneo, Madrid, July - August 20, 1983, exh. cat. with essays by Joan Miró (reprint), Antoni Tàpies, Jacques Dupin, Rosa Maria Malet, and Alvaro Martinez Novillo, no. 69, pp. 47 (ill., and preparatory drawing, fig. 68, p. 47), 90; "Joan Miró," Kunsthaus, Zurich, November 21, 1986-February 1, 1987, and Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, February 14-April 20, 1987, exh.cat. by Felix Baumann, Jacques Dupin, and Jürgen Harten, with essays by Robert S. Lubar, Joan Miró, Jacques Dupin, Werner Schmalenbach, Hans Heinz Holz, Jaho Düchting, and Barbara Rose, no. 42, ill. color n.p., p. 114; "Joan Miró: A Retrospective" (third venue of Zurich-Dusseldorf 1986-7), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, May 15-August 23, 1987, exh.cat. with essays by Robert S. Lubar, Joan Miró, Jacques Dupin, Werner Schmalenbach, and Thomas M. Messer, no. 35, ill. color p. 97; "The Dada & Surrealist Word- Image," Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June 15-August 27, 1989, exh. cat. by Judy Freedman and John C. Welchman, no. 25, ill. p. 12; "Joan Miró: Rétrospective de l'oeuvre peint," Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, July 4-October 7, 1990, exh. cat. by Jean-Louis Prat, no. 20, pp. 56-57 (ill.), 200; "Juan Miro 1893-1993," Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, April 20-August 30, 1993, exh. cat. by Carme Escudero and Teresa Montaner, essays by Rosa Maria Malet, Robert S. Lubar, Christopher Green, and Rudi Fuchs, no. 66, ill. p. 209 (also preparatory sketch, 1925, ill. p. 208); "Joan Miró," The Museum of Modern Art, New York, October 17, 1993-January 11, 1994, exh. cat. by Carolyn Lanchner, with chronology by Anne Umland, and catalogue by Lilian Tone, no. 42, pp. 38, 39, 44, 45, 131 (ill.), 380; "Elan vital, oder Das Auge des Eros: Kandinsky, Klee, Arp, Miró, Calder," Haus der Kunst, Munich, May 20-August 14, 1994, exh. cat. with essays by Christoph Vitali, Gert Mattenklott, Hubertus Gassner, Vivian Endicott Barnett, Wolfgang Kersten, Denis Hollier, and Klaus H. Kiefer, no. 454, ill. fig. 139 n.p., checklist p. 563; "Das Grausame Spiel: Surrealismus in Spanien, 1924-1939," Kunsthalle, Vienna, May 12-June 16, 1995, exh.cat. with preface by Ursula Pasterk, forewords by Toni Stooss and Lucía García de Carpi, essays by Toni Stooss, Lucía García de Carpi, José Pierre, Martin Schaub, Agustín Sánchez Vidal, Josefina Alix Trueba, and Eugenio Carmona, biography by Marta Gonzáles, additional texts by Georges Bataille, Federico García Lorca, Salvador Dalí, José Bergamin, Joan Ramón Masoliver, Domingo López Torres, M. A. Cassanyes, J. Viola Gamón, Pablo Picasso, and Joan Larrea, no. 119, pp. 120 (ill.), 388; "Miró: Ceci est la couleur de mes rêves," Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, June 6-November 11, 1997, exh. cat. by Jean-Louis Prat, with preface by Léonard Gianadda (titled "Ceci est la couleur de mes rêves"), introduction by Dolores Miro, and texts by Joan Punyet-Miro, and Jean-Louis Prat, no. 9, pp. 38-39 (ill.), 211; "Joan Miró: La Colección del Centro Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, y otras colecciones," Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, February 12-May 24, 1998, exh.cat. in Spanish, with introductions by Emilio Azcárraga Jean, Robert Littmann, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, Werner Spies, & Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, and essays by Jacques Dupin, Octavio Paz, Pierre Schneider, and Agnès de la Beaumelle, interview with Yvon Taillandier, additional contributions by Marie-Laure Bernadac, Évelyne Pomey, Messody Zrihen, Margit Rowell, and Sabine Rewald, chronology by Claire Blanchon, no. 7, pp. 105 (ill., and preparatory sketch ill. p. 104), 266; "Joan Miró," Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, September 10, 1998-January 10, 1999, exh.cat. in Louisiana Revy, vol. 39, no. 1 (September 1998), with forword by curator, Steingrim Laursen, and essays by Jacques Dupin, Rosa Maria Malet, and Ragnar von Holten, no. 11, pp. 44-45 (ill.), 102, 123; "Joan Miró, 1917-1934: La naissance du monde," Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, March 3- June 28, 2004, exh. cat. by Agnès de la Beaumelle and Claude Laugier, with essays by Rémi Labrusse, Robert Lubar, Anne Umland, Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, Rosalind E. Krauss, and William Jeffett, chronology by Claude Laugier, Agnès de la Beaumelle, and Isabelle Merly, catalogue by Claude Laugier with Macha Daniel, biblio by Caroline Edde, no. 83, pp. 70-71 (ill. fig. 1), 169 (ill.), 387 (ill.); "The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, exh. in three parts, May 18, 2004-June 26, 2005, no cat. (see MMA Bulletin 2004); "Pierre Matisse passeur passionné: Un marchand d'art et ses artistes," Mona Bismarck Foundation, Paris, October 20, 2005-January 14, 2006, exh. cat. edited by Pierre Schneider, essays by Pierre Schneider, Paul Matisse, Sabine Rewald, Isabelle Monod-Fontaine, and Jacques Dupin, pp. 128 (ill.), 190; "La Colección Pierre & Maria-Gaetana Matisse en The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York / The Pierre & Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," Museo Picasso, Malaga, March 26-June 24, 2007, exh. cat. edited by Bernardo Laniado-Romero, texts by Pierre Schneider and Jonathan Pascoe Pratt, ill. p.149 no. 47, pp. 52, 191-197. "The Philippe de Montebello Years," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 24, 2008-February 1, 2009. La Subversion des Images. Surrealisme, Photographie, Film, Centre Pompidou, Paris, September 23, 2009- January 4, 2010; Winterthur Fotomuseum, Feb 26 -May 23, 2010. Vancouver Art Gallery. "The Colour of My Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art," May 28–September 25, 2011, unnumbered cat. (pp.72-73; as "Photo: Ceci est la couleur de mes rêves").

Jacques Dupin, Joan Miró (Paris 1961), pp. 158, 494, no. 125 ;

Jacques Dupin, Joan Miró: Life and Work (New York 1962), pp. 168, 510, no. 125;

Roland Penrose, Joan Miró (London 1964), p. 7;

Roland Penrose, Joan Miró (New York 1969, and London 1970), no. 27, pp. 44, 46 (ill.), 208;

Herta Wescher, Collage (New York 1971), p. 190;

William Rubin, Miró in the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art, including remainder-interest and promised gifts (New York 1973), pp. 125 (fig. 47), 126 (n. 3);

Jean Leymarie, "Joan Miro" (excerpts from exh. cat., Grand Palais Paris 1974), Le petit journal des grandes expositions, n.s., no. 11 (Paris: RMN, 1974), p. [2];

Giovanni Lista, "Tre mostre a parigi; gli 81 ani di miró" (review of Paris, Grand Palais, 1974), [Unidentified journal], [summer 1974], p. 38;

Simon Wilson, Surrealist Painting (London 1976), ill. p. 42 (reprinted in 1982, no. 7, ill. n.p.);

Margit Rowell, Joan Miró, Peinture=Poésie (Paris 1976), pp. 160 (ill.), 161, 163, 171, 189 (n. 55), 203;

Angelica Zander Rudenstine, The Guggenheim Museum Collection: Paintings 1880-1945, vol. 2 (New York 1976), p. 522;

Joan Miró, "Ceci est la couleur de mes rêves": Entretiens avec Georges Raillard (Paris 1977), pp. 69, 81, ill. p. 21;

Pere Gimferrer, Miró, catalan universel (Paris 1978), p. 122;

John Russell, "Miro's Impact in America" (review of Houston 1982), New York Times (June 13, 1982), p. 48;

Roland Penrose, "Enchantment and Revolution: Joan Miró," Artforum, vol. 22, no. 3 (November 1983), pp. 56-57 (ill.);

Georges Weelen, Miró (Paris 1984), no. 11, p. 12;

Margit Rowell, "Bleu II, 1961, de Joan Miró," Cahiers du Musée National d'Art Moderne (Paris), 15 (March 1985), pp. 55 (ill.), 56 (ill. fig. 12);

Margit Rowell, ed., Joan Miró: Selected Writings and Interviews (Boston 1986), p. 90;

Christa Spatz, "Schwarzer Stern in kinderbunten Träumen: Joan Miro in Kunsthaus Zurich - die erste Retrospektive nach seinem Tod" (review of Zurich - Dusseldorf 1986-87), Frankfurter Rundschau (December 27, 1986), p. 2;

Gisela Linder, "Bildgedichte - von aller Erdenschwere losgelöst; Bei der Zürcher Miro-Ausstellung liegt ein Hauptakzent auf dem Frühwerk des Spaniers," (review of Zurich - Dusseldorf 1986-87), Schwäbische Zeitung Leutkirch (Januray 7, 1987);

Amine Haase, "Joan Miro in Dusseldorf: Eine Ausstellung verändert den Blick auf die Bilderwelt" (review of Zurich - Dusseldorf 1986-87), Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (February 14, 1987);

Bertram Müller, "Miro-Ausstellung in der Düsseldorf Kunshalle; Landschaften der Erregung" (review of Zurich - Dusseldorf 1986-87), Rheinische Post (February 14, 1987);

Marion Leske, "Joan miro-Retrospektive in der Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Vom Lächeln der Sterne (review of Zurich - Dusseldorf 1986-87), General Anzeiger Bonn (February 21, 1987);

Hannah Humeltenberg, "Mirós Mondgesicht am Rhein" (review of Zurich - Dusseldorf 1986-87), Höchst Kreisblatt Frankfurt (February 28, 1987);

Paul Depondt, "Eerste overzichtsexpositie sinds zijn dood; Woord en teken vloeien bij Miró in elkaar over" (review of Zurich - Dusseldorf - New York 1986-87), De Volkskrant (March 18, 1987);

Peter Winter, "Diw Farbe der Träume: Ein Rückblick auf das Wert Joan Mirós in der Düsseldorfer Kunsthalle," (review of Zurich - Dusseldorf - New York 1986-87), Frankfurter Allgemeine (March 24, 1987);

Michael Brenson, "Art: Miró Revisited in Guggenheim Show" (review of New York 1987), New York Times (May 15, 1987);

Bruce Duff Hooton, "Major Miro Exhibit at the Guggenheim" (review of New York 1987), Art/World, Latest Museum and Gallery Guide, vol. 11, no. 8 (May 15-June 15, 1987), p. 6, ill. p. 1;

Christopher Green, Cubism and its Enemies: Modern Movements and Reaction in French Art, 1916-1928 (New York, Conn., and London, 1987), p. 289;

Judi Freeman, "Layers of Meaning: The Multiple Readings of Dada and Surrealist Word-Images," in: The Dada and Surrealist Word-Image, exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989, p. 43;

Georges Raillard, Miró: Les Chefs-d'oeuvre (Paris 1989), and English transl. by John Greaves, Raillard, Miró: The masterworks (London 1989), pp. 7, 80-81, ill.;

Victoria Combalía, ed., El Descubrimento de Miró: Miró y sus criticos 1918-1929 (Barcelona 1990), ill., n.p. ;

Maïten Bouisset, " La Ferme de Monsieur Miró," Beaux-Arts (Paris), no. 82 (September 1990), p. 129;

Roland Penrose, Joan Miró (New York & Paris 1990), no. 27, ill. p. 46;

Rosamond Bernier, Matisse, Picasso, Miró: As I Knew Them (New York 1991), pp. 236-237, ill.;

Jacques Dupin, Miró (Paris 1993), pp. 117, 128, 435, 436 (ill. fig. 454);

Pere Gimferrer, Les arrels de Miró (Barcelona 1993), no. 224, p. 341 (ill.); transl. as The Roots of Miró, transl. by Elaine Fradley (New York 1993), ibid.;

Rosamond Bernier, "Miró en persona" (reprint, in Spanish, of Bernier 1991), Saber Ver lo contemporaneo del arte (Mexico), no. 28 (May-June 1996), pp. 35 (ill.), 36;

Jacques Dupin and Ariane Lelong-Mainaud, Joan Miró: Catalogue raisonné. Paintings. Volume I: 1908-1930, transl. by Cole Swensen and Unity Woodman (Paris 1999), no. 147, p. 124-125, ill., and vol. VI , p. 261;

Rosa Maria Malet, ed., Fundació Joan Miró, Guia (Barcelona 1999), ill. p. 18 (installation view of Barcelona 1983 exhibition); and French edition Fundació Joan Miró, Guide, transl. by Barbara de Lataillade and Geneviève Michel (Barcelona 1999), ill. p. 18;

Agnès Angliviel de la Beaumelle, Joan Miró: La Collection du Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, exh. cat. (venue of Mexico City 1998, capc, Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, 1999), pp. 20-21 (ill.), 185;

Sabine Rewald, "Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 2002-2003," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 61, no. 2 (Fall 2003), p. 43, ill.;

Magdalena Dabrowski, William S. Lieberman, and Sabine Rewald, "Selections from the Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection," Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 61, no. 4 (Spring 2004), pp. 14-15, ill.;

Jacinto Lagueira, "Peintures-Pèmes," in: Miró: 1917-1934 (Connaissance des Arts hors série no. 212, Paris 2004), ill. p. 30.

Sabine Rewald in The American Matisse: The Dealer, His Artists, His Collection. The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection (New York, 2009), pp. 123-24, 164-65, ill.