FLOAT 100 · Art · No. 91

Translunaire

Joan Miró was past 80 and the subject of a Paris retrospective when he made this large color etching in an edition of just 50, and half a century later a proof from outside that edition still sold above its high estimate.

Year: 1974
Maker: Joan Miró
By price in art: 85 of 100

Realized at auction · May 15, 2024$4,032A realized sale: somebody paid it.

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Artist: Joan Miró (1893-1983)
Title: Translunaire (also catalogued as La Translunaire)
Date: 1974
Catalogue raisonne: Dupin 659
Medium: Etching and aquatint in colors on Arches paper
Image size: About 61 x 46 cm (24 x 18 in)
Sheet size: About 74 x 54 cm (29 1/4 x 21 in)
Edition: 50 numbered impressions, plus hors commerce (H.C.) proofs
Printer and publisher: Printed by Morsang, Paris; published in Paris

A large etching from 1974

Translunaire is a color etching with aquatint that Joan Miró made in 1974. Jacques Dupin's catalogue of Miró's prints lists it as number 659. It is a big print for an intaglio: auction entries give an image of about 61 by 46 centimeters on a full sheet of about 74 by 54 centimeters of Arches paper, watermarked with the publisher's name.

The plates were printed in Paris by the Morsang workshop, and the print was published in Paris by the firm whose name appears in the paper's watermark. The regular edition was 50 impressions, each signed in pencil and numbered out of 50 in the lower margin.

A small number of impressions were pulled outside the edition and marked H.C., for hors commerce, meaning 'not for trade'. The impression that set this page's reference price is one of them, signed 'H.C. Miró' at the lower edge.

Miró the printmaker

Miró was born in Barcelona on April 20, 1893, the son of a goldsmith and watchmaker. He settled in Paris in the early 1920s, joined the Surrealist group in 1924, and developed a symbolic, schematic visual language whose works are sometimes difficult to classify.

Prints were central to his later career. From 1948 he made frequent trips to Paris to work on printing techniques at the Mourlot lithography studio and the Lacouriere etching workshop, and his relationship with Fernand Mourlot alone produced more than a thousand lithographic editions. He also created more than 250 illustrated books.

By the 1970s Miró was working across every medium at once. In 1974 alone he made monumental bronzes including His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen, and with the Catalan weaver Josep Royo a tapestry for the World Trade Center in New York.

Paris, 1974

Miró's old age brought major retrospectives: New York and London in 1972, Saint-Paul-de-Vence in 1973 and Paris in 1974. Translunaire belongs to that year of acclaim. The next year, 1975, the Fundacio Joan Miro opened in his native Barcelona.

In 1974 Miró also published, at the urging of the widow of the poet Robert Desnos, the illustrated book Les penalites de l'enfer ou les Nouvelles Hebrides, with 25 lithographs.

The wider world was turbulent. Portugal's Carnation Revolution ended 41 years of dictatorship in April, the Terracotta Army was discovered at Xi'an in March, and in August Richard Nixon resigned the U.S. presidency over Watergate.

How to identify it

A genuine impression of Dupin 659 is a color etching and aquatint on Arches wove paper with the publisher's watermark, about 29 1/4 by 21 inches overall with full margins. Numbered impressions are signed in pencil and numbered out of 50 in the lower margin, such as 13/50, 14/50, 37/50 or 38/50. Proofs outside the edition are inscribed H.C.

Catalogue entries consistently credit the Morsang workshop in Paris as printer. One catalogue gives the image as 612 by 173 millimeters, a width that conflicts with every other description; the other entries put the image at about 61 by 46 centimeters.

Titles vary between Translunaire and La Translunaire, so searching by the Dupin number, 659, is the most reliable way to match records.

On the market

Impressions from the numbered edition have sold at auction for well above the H.C. proof's price. Impression 14/50 sold on October 26, 2011, for $10,625 with fees against an estimate of $4,000 to $6,000. Impression 13/50 sold on March 7, 2013, for $7,200 with buyer's premium, below its estimate of $8,000 to $12,000.

More recently prices have been lower. On May 15, 2024, an H.C. impression sold at auction in Los Angeles for $4,032 with fees, against an estimate of $2,000 to $3,000. Impression 37/50 has also been offered at auction with an estimate of $3,000 to $4,000.

Because these figures span different impressions, numbered and H.C., and different conditions and framing, they show a range of outcomes rather than a single price for the print.

The numbers

Catalogue number: Dupin 659
Medium: Etching and aquatint in colors on Arches
Image: About 61 x 46 cm
Sheet: About 74 x 54 cm (743 x 533 mm)
Edition: 50, plus H.C. proofs
Printer: Morsang, Paris

Timeline

Apr 20, 1893
Joan Miró is born in Barcelona.
1924
Miró joins the Surrealist group in Paris.
1948
Miró begins regular printmaking trips to Paris studios.
1972
Retrospectives of Miró's work are held in New York and London.
1974
Miró makes Translunaire (Dupin 659), printed by Morsang in Paris in an edition of 50; a Paris retrospective is held the same year.
1975
The Fundacio Joan Miro opens in Barcelona.
Dec 25, 1983
Miró dies at his home in Palma de Mallorca, aged 90.
Oct 26, 2011
Impression 14/50 sells at auction for $10,625.
Mar 7, 2013
Impression 13/50 sells at auction for $7,200.
May 15, 2024
An H.C. impression sells at auction in Los Angeles for $4,032.

The world in 1974

Feb 8, 1974
The Skylab 4 crew returns to Earth after a record 84 days in orbit.
Mar 29, 1974
The Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang is discovered at Xi'an, China.
Apr 25, 1974
Portugal's Carnation Revolution ends 41 years of dictatorship.
May 7, 1974
West German chancellor Willy Brandt resigns after a spy scandal.
Aug 8, 1974
Richard Nixon announces his resignation as U.S. president, effective the next day.
Nov 21, 1974
Bombings of two pubs in Birmingham, England, kill 21 people.

Price record

Date	Price	Kind
May 15, 2024	$4,032	Sold at auctionH.C. impression outside the edition of 50, sold at auction in Los Angeles with fees; estimate $2,000 to $3,000.

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Translunaire is number 85 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (91 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

H.C. stands for hors commerce, 'not for trade', marking proofs kept outside the numbered edition.
The same year Miró made this etching, he also made a tapestry for the World Trade Center in New York with Josep Royo.
Miró's collaboration with one Paris lithography studio produced more than a thousand editions.
Miró created more than 250 illustrated books over his career.
One auction catalogue lists this print's image as 612 by 173 millimeters, a long, thin shape no other description supports.

How this page is made

The figure: One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not: A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
The story: Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
Archive: Oct 5, 2026