Head of a Woman, 1938 by Joan Miro

Head of a Woman, 1938 by Joan Miro
Head of a Woman, 1938 by Joan Miro

A terrifying monster, a hideous old hag, grinding her rotten teeth and gnashing curses with them. This is the drastic way in which Miro depicts that other aspect of the goddess of motherhood, showing her as a horrible, devouring woman, a symbol of the destructive and disastrous element in human instincts. Both aspects of this archetypal symbol of the Great Mother - the bright, fruitful element and the dark, destructive one - are constantly present in Miro's art and express a psychological conflict from which he drew creative energy.