Joan Miro, Injured character, 1940

Injured Character (1940) belongs to a crucial moment in Joan Miró’s artistic evolution, when the upheavals of war, exile, and personal displacement profoundly altered the emotional atmosphere of his work. Painted during the early years of World War II, the piece reflects a mixture of distress, tension, and poetic resilience, expressed through Miró’s increasingly abstract and symbolic visual language.

Rather than presenting a literal wounded body, Miró constructs the “injured character” from a constellation of biomorphic forms and spindly, trembling lines. The figure appears fragmented—its limbs reduced to thin extensions, its body composed of irregular shapes that float or tilt precariously within an unstable space. This fragmentation is central to the painting’s emotional impact: the character seems caught between collapse and resistance, embodying the psychological disorientation of the era.

Miró’s use of line is especially expressive here. The black strokes waver with an almost nervous energy, as though they themselves have been shaken or struck. This line quality evokes vulnerability, suggesting that the character is not only physically but spiritually wounded. Yet the expressive freedom of the line also hints at persistence, a refusal to fully disintegrate.

Color plays an equally symbolic role. Sharp reds may suggest pain or agitation, while softer blues, yellows, or pale tones introduce fleeting moments of calm or introspection. These contrasts heighten the sense of an internal struggle. Small dots or star-like bursts punctuate the composition, adding a surreal dimension—tiny sparks of awareness, emotion, or memory amid a destabilized environment.

Despite the austerity of its forms, Injured Character conveys powerful emotional depth. It transforms trauma into poetic abstraction, capturing the fragility of existence at a time of global crisis while maintaining Miró’s belief in the expressive potential of even the simplest marks.