On The Cover: December 2016On The Cover: December 2016

Our cover this month, Joan Miró’s “Vladimir” (35³/4 in. by 24⁷/8 in.), sold for $11,875 at Sotheby’s Prints & Multiples sale in New York City on Oct. 27-28, 2016. As with many artists, Miró’s parents were dismayed at the prospect of their son pursuing a career in art, and he initially took a position as an accounts clerk. That career was short lived however—he abandoned the business world after suffering a nervous breakdown.

His first art show in 1918, at a Barcelona gallery of the art dealer José Dalmau, didn’t go as planned to say the least, as his work was ridiculed and defaced. Luckily, things panned out for the better after Miró moved to Paris in 1920, where he completed a number of works he’d started earlier, including one titled “T...