ABSTRACT
There were many variations on the theme of the pastoral in modern European painting in the early twentieth century, and the Catalan art scene was no exception in this regard. The pastoral recalls a mythical vision of an Edenic landscape, representing an idyllic natural world in which animals, plants and humans live together in harmony; but at the same time, it is fraught with tension, because even if it celebrates harmony, it was born from the frustration and alienation caused by a rapidly-changing modern world. This was also true in Catalonia, which at the turn of the century went through a progressive industrialisation and transformation of its territory. This chapter will compare two works by the Catalan artists, Joaquim Sunyer and Joan Miró, which share the same title and motif, Pastoral. By comparing these two paintings, Miró’s links with other Catalan artists and the cultural milieu in which he began his career will become apparent. The discussion will highlight how Miró tried to express his own vision and understanding of his homeland at that particular moment, while seeking to escape the limitations of that very environment, by resorting to his own conception of the ‘primitive’.
