“The same spirit, the same frenetic curiosity characterize the etchings of Séries I and II, which were prepared at Hayter’s Atelier 17 and printed by Lacourière. Eight variants of the same plate in the first series, five in the second. The powerful drawing style – beings, animals, heavenly bodies, signs – is much altered from one state to the other by the variation of color, inking and lighting. Miró obtains effects of a negative impression by the modulations of tones and by differences in the pressure of the press: with slight pressure, the grooves deeply hollowed out by the acid and then inked leaves nothing but a white line on the paper; with normal pressure, the same groove restores ink of the same color to the paper that it itself bears. Miró pursues this kind of research, and the ensuing subtle or contrasting variations, through each stage of engraving, preparation of the plate and printing. His ludic passion explores all the possibilities of etching. He plays on the modulations, the gradations, the passages. Above all, he finds – and with unfailing good fortune – the right place and the right intensity for each element of his language.”

– Jacques Dupin