`The Cat's Whiskers'

Many of the Surrealist paintings of Spanish artist Joan Mir'o - a major figure in Modernism - blend humor and fine art. Exemplary is the whimsy of ``The Cat's Whiskers.'' Here, the cat's head is a hazy white circle punctuated by two tiny black eyes and eight delicate black curling whiskers; the whole on a golden-tan background. This is typical of Mir'o during 1927, the year this was painted.

Most people would call this an ``abstract'' work, but the Spanish artist once said that for him ``a form is never abstract, it is always the sign of something. It is always a man, a bird, or something else.''