Spanish artists' most valuable works all around you that you never notice

A PAINTING by Catalunya-born artist Joan Miró will be up for auction at Christie's in London later this month with a price tag starting at €10.5 million.

Miró, who was nearly 91 – and still creating his provocative, eye-catching sculptures – when he died on Christmas Day in 1983 spent long years living in Paris from the 1920s, during which his surrealist, highly-coloured works took on a more 'dreamlike' feel.

One of these is the 1925 piece, Peinture – literally, 'Painting' (a title Miró gave several of his works) – which has been valued at between £9 and £14m (€10.5 to €16.4m).

In it, Miró started out with a 'muddy' background and filled it with a multitude of shapes and enigmatic symbols, mostly in black but with splashes of red and yellow and a smattering of blue, which 'came into his head automatically' and 'without any radical intervening thoughts', according to art historians at Christie's.

Peinture forms part of a lot of five Miró works – although they will be auctioned separately – some of them valued at more than €3.5m.

One of the most expensive of these is Goutte d'Eau sur la Neige Rose ('Drop of Water on Pink Snow'), from 1968 and, in fact, highly characteristic of Miró's works in the 1960s, when his paintings were heavily influenced by poetry and Japanese art.

The other three due to go under hammer on the same day – March 23 – are Tête ('Head'), from 1974; Projet d'Illustration d'un Livre (Handmade Proverbs) ('Book Illustration Project'), from 1970, and Le Piège ('The Trap'), from 1924.

Miró joins his compatriot Salvador Dalí at Christie's on March 23, its 20th edition of a session specialising in surrealist art, which will also feature other huge names in the movement including René Magritte, Max Ernst and Francis Picabia. 

According to expert Olivier Camu at Christie's, three of the works up for bid – by Miró, Ernst and Magaritte – are of 'museum quality' and 'not just new on the market, but were each very significant for the artists personally'.

You didn't know it, but you pass Miró's – and Dalí's – most famous works every day

Few mere mortals would have the cash available to place a realistic bid on any of the Miró pictures seeking new owners at Christie's, and it could be that even if you live or spend a lot of time in Spain, you are not familiar with his work unless you have visited the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, one of the country's second-largest city's major tourism attractions.

But without realising it, you'll have seen one of his most famous works on at least a handful of occasions, and you probably pass another of his best-known pieces every day on your local high street.

And both of these are worth multiple times the asking prices for even the 1925 Peinture, probably even billions.

There's also a world-renowned Dalí work which is worth billions, but which you will have passed daily in your nearest corner shop, supermarket or petrol station. 

So, how can you get your hands on the most iconic works of some of the biggest artists in Spain's history without spending enough to bankrupt Inditex?

Pick up a tourism brochure

Non-fans of abstract art cheekily referred to it at the time as 'the fried egg', but the symbol for Spain's global tourism board – which has branches in several countries and is present at all the world's biggest travel trade fairs – is the depiction of a sun, red with a black border and a yellow half-border topped with an eight-sided black star.

And it was created by Joan Miró, when he was 90 years old, as a 'favour', at no charge.

Clearly, it was a very lucrative favour, and could have made his surviving family incredibly wealthy, but they have opted not to pursue any claims for royalties.

Open an account with CaixaBank (or pick up one of their brochures, too)

Starting out in Catalunya, extending to the Balearic Islands, but with plans to go global, the bank that used to be known as Caixa Catalunya and then La Caixa decided to rebrand in 1979, wanting a logo that spoke of its home territory, but without being too 'local' or 'regional' as this would be incompatible with its expansion plans.

Prestigious US-based marketing consultancy Landor had in mind something based upon a star, but drew a blank – so it commissioned Joan Miró for the job.

Miró, instead of creating a logo directly for La Caixa, announced he would work something star-like into one of his pictures, and the consultancy could extract it from there.

Together with fellow abstract artist Josep Royo, Miró created a massive, colourful tapestry, which is now displayed at his eponymous Barcelona-based Foundation, in the top left-hand corner of which is a five-pointed blue star with a red and a yellow 'blob' that looks like a crude outline of a person bouncing two balls.

To this day, CaixaBank still uses the logo and, even after its possible future acquisition of State-run entity Bankia, plans to keep it.

Buy a boiled-sweet lolly

Even if you've never been to Spain, you'll have seen these, as they're sold worldwide, typically for anything from 20 cents to €1 – Chupa Chups boiled-sweet lollies. 

Spanish confectioner Enric Bernat was raking it in with his novel invention, a sweet on a stick, prompting his decision in 1969 to go international, so he needed a noticeable and memorable logo.

You may have dropped hundreds of Chupa Chups wrappers into the recycling bin in your lifetime without ever realising you were discarding a painting Salvador Dalí earned a reportedly astronomical sum for.

The exact amount has never been revealed, but his melting clocks and lobster telephone are nowhere near as famous as Dalí's Chupa Chups lolly design.

A yellow flower-like shape with eight 'petals', bordered by a thin red line and with the name emblazoned across it in red was the very successful result of Bernat's choice of artist.

This is another design still used today, although now, the font for the word 'Chups' has been used for the word 'Chupa', rather than two different typefaces as in the original.

The name of these lollies comes from the Spanish word chupar, meaning 'to suck'.

Grab a leaflet from Kutxa or from the Basque Country University

Eduardo Chillida was born the year before Miró created his Peinture which is up for auction this month, and died aged 78, during which lifetime he became one of Spain's most iconic 20th-century sculptors. 

His reputation went global, as did his creations – although one of his most instantly-recognised in Spain is the 'wind comb' on San Sebastián beach, the sculpture Europe mainly associates with him is the giant bronze affair in Berlin.

Its title is merely the name of the city, and it was commissioned for the Millennium year as a symbol of the relatively-recent reuniting of the two Germanies following the fall of the Berlin Wall.

For the past 20 years or so, Chillida's monument is the first sight that welcomes national government workers to the entrance to the Chancery, or German Parliament building.

Closer to home, two of Chillida's biggest and best-known works are found on the high street in Spain's far northern Basque Country – one is the logo for the regional university, and the other is for the bank known as Kutxa.

In practice, given that Kutxa, along with the BBK bank, have now been absorbed by the entity known as Kutxabank, the logo is less commonly-spotted these days. The Meccano-style 'K', the modern-day Kutxabank symbol, is only loosely based on Chillida's well-loved work.

Buy a bottle of Osborne brandy

Manuel Prieto, born in 1912 and who lived until just a month before his 79th birthday, was famous for his Impressionist paintings and sketches until about midway through the 20th century when he gave them up for no particular reason. His last work, from 1950, is Las Lavadoras ('The Washerwomen'), which he never finished, although to the untrained eye this would not be immediately obvious.

Prieto is also a household name in Spain for his advertising posters and book cover illustrations, which were intricate and colourful, but he was always slightly aggrieved about the fact his biggest and most global work, in terms of reputation and worth, was monochrome and simple.

Being known for the Osborne 'bull-boards', a straightforward cut-out in the shape of a bull, painted entirely in black, above anything else he had ever created was frequently a source of disappointment for Prieto.

The 'Osborne bull' is considered to be a symbol of Spain, not just of the drinks company, and gigantic panels in the Prieto bull shape are erected on grass verges alongside motorways throughout the country, and in México.

In total, there are said to be around 150 out there in the world, of which 90 are in Spain, 55 are in Catalunya, and nine are in the Comunidad Valenciana – four of them are on the N-332 inter-provincial highway and clearly visible from the AP-7 cross-continental motorway.

One of these is in Tavernes de la Valldigna (southern Valencia province), one is in Santa Pola near the Elche wetlands (southern Alicante province) and two are in El Campello (near Alicante city) just 20 kilometres apart.

Others are found in Benidorm, on the Avenida Costa Blanca; on the N-330 highway in Monforte del Cid (south-western Alicante province), two are seen from the A-3 Valencia-Madrid motorway and are set up on the N-III in El Rebollar and Villargordo del Cabriel, and one is located on campus at Valencia Polytechnic.

What is less-well known is that the shape of this somewhat basic piece is based upon a lifelike and life-sized bull sculpture Prieto made for the purpose, and which is far more characteristic of the works he would have preferred to have been famous for.

Pick up any promotional material from Gastro Marca España

Actually, this is cheating slightly.

Drake Marketing & Advertising, in Galicia, was commissioned to research, position and design a website for Spain's international tourism board which would be a one-stop shop for all its restaurants.

It was presented officially on November 19, 2015, and chairman of Spain's Royal Culinary Academy, Rafael Ansón, opened his speech by telling those present that there were 'two important things in life'.

“Lunch, and dinner,” he postulated.

He could have said there were five important things in life, in fact. Desayuno, or breakfast which, if taken before work, is probably a coffee with Galletas María – Spain's answer to Rich Tea biscuits – or of hot chocolate, or hot or cold milk with a handful of cereal thrown in the mug or, if taken during the mid-morning break, could be a coffee with a croissant or pastry; almuerzo, which is sometimes used as a translation for 'lunch' if this is, unusually in Spain, light, and early, but mainly works as 'brunch' or 'elevenses' and may be a mid-morning break affair for those who have already breakfasted; the comida, which Ansón mentioned, is lunch, but a full cooked meal, normally at least two courses; merienda, being 'afternoon tea', normally coffee and cake or a sandwich, or the 'after-school snack'; and cena, again mentioned by Ansón, the evening meal, which is often a complete cooked dinner but, unless it's at a restaurant, is normally lighter than the lunch meal.

Anyway, at least we broadly know what's most important in life now, thanks to the Royal Culinary Academy.

He was followed in the speeches by the Marca España, or Spain's 'national brand' high commissioner Carlos Espinosa, who argued that the country's 'culinary leadership' helped to 'improve the impression tourists had' of Spain – even though it was news to us that this impression needed improving at all.

“We're a country of talent, creativity and quality produce, and our cuisine encompasses all of that,” he stated.

None of us would argue with this anyhow, but the figures spoke for themselves: In the year after Gastro Marca España launched – not with every restaurant in the country, though; only 826 of them, which is about as many as you'd find in any decent-sized town in Spain – foodie tourism rose by 30%, from 8.4 million visitors in 2015 to 11 million in 2016.

And foreign holidaymakers were, officially, 3.5% more impressed with Spanish food after the website was launched, giving it an average 82.9 out of 100.

So, what does all this have to do with expensive art?

Well, Drake wanted to create a logo for its prestigious client that spoke loudly and clearly about the 'cultural and artistic legacy' of Spain, of the nation's 'tradition, culture, freedom and creativity'.

And what could be more 'free' and 'creative' than cubism, or more a sign of Spain's 'culture, art and tradition' than Pablo Picasso?

Except the picture created, and turned into the letters 'Gastro Marca España' was not actually a Picasso. It was, however, so heavily inspired by the Málaga-born canon that you would need to read Drake's commentary on the process to realise that you were looking at a graphic designer's 2015 work rather than that of an early 20th-century icon.

Unfortunately, the Gastro Marca España website is no longer in cyberspace, so we've included a couple of pictures of its logo that you can cut out and keep.

And finally...

Spain doesn't have the monopoly on world-famous artists creating its product logos. Almost, but not quite. 

The 'not quite' is because of the logo for the music label Dreamworks Records – absorbed by Universal Music Group in 2003 – which was designed in 1996 by the late, great Roy Lichtenstein. Entirely consistent with his usual style, the white 'thought cloud' with a black musical note in it on a blue-and-black-striped background with 'Dreamworks' in large yellow letters and 'records' in smaller white letters underneath was Lichtenstein's last-ever published work before his death in September 1997.

But just in case you were about to shout, “Andy Warhol, too, for the Rolling Stones!”, know that you would be wrong. It's a common misconception that the 1960s' pop artist was behind the trademark lips and sticking-out tongue, but in reality, it was the brainchild of young graphic designer John Pasche, a student at London's Royal College of Art.

Even though it was a decent amount of money in 1970 for a young student, the £50 (about €60) Mick Jagger paid Pasche for his creation falls a long way short of what it would swiftly turn out to be worth.

Unlike, according to rumour, Dalí and the Chupa Chups logo, even though the actual figure remains one of Spain's biggest mysteries in its cultural history and one that the artist took to his grave.