Joan Miró

Joan Miró's work is crucial to 20th-century avant-garde art. The Barcelona-born painter and sculptor created a new, highly personal and influential language that earned him a distinguished place among the world's great contemporary artists. The Miró Foundation in Barcelona is home to an impressive number of works by the artist, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and sketches, which offer a fascinating window into the world of his art.

Joan Miró Ferrà was born in 1893 in Barcelona to Miquel Miró Adzerias and Dolors Ferrà Oromó, both of whom came from families of craftsmen. His earliest remaining drawings date back to 1901.

Between 1907 and 1910, he combined his studies at the Barcelona School of Commerce with classes at the School of Industrial and Fine Arts, where he studied under Modest Urgell and Josep Pascó. Beginning in 1910, he spent time working as an accountant and took part in his first exhibit, held by the Barcelona City Council.

For health reasons, he moved to Mont-roig (Tarragona), where he remained throughout his convalescence. Upon returning to Barcelona, he decided to devote himself entirely to painting and enrolled at the art school run by Francesc Galí, where he remained for three years. Shortly thereafter, he joined the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc. There, he met the fellow painter E. C. Ricart, with whom he would share a studio until 1918. That year marked the end of his first period, influenced by Cézanne, and saw his first one-man show at the galleries of José Dalmau. Dalmau also sponsored the artist's first show in Paris two years later at Galerie La Licorne.

During the summers he spent at Mont-roig, Miró painted most of the works from his “detallista” or “detailist” period, including "The Tilled Field," "Pastoral" and, most famously, "The Farm," which would later be purchased by Ernest Hemingway.

In 1924, he first came into contact with a series of avant-garde artists and participated in their shows. It was during this period that he befriended Max Jacob, Georges Limbour and Roland Tual, among others. The following year, he had his first solo show in France at Galerie Pierre in Paris. In 1926, he designed the sets and costumes for the Diaghilev ballet company’s production of "Romeo and Juliet." Two years later, he travelled to Belgium and Holland. These trips would serve as the inspiration for his "Dutch Interiors," which he would paint in Mont-roig. His first object-collages also date from this period.

The following year, he worked on the series known as "Imaginary Portraits." He also married Pilar Juncosa in Palma de Mallorca, with whom he would have a daughter within one year. The couple soon settled in Paris.

In 1930, Miró worked on a series of paintings done in highly different styles, noting his interest in working with other media, such as sculpture or bas relief. The same year, he held his first solo show in the United States at the Valentine Gallery in New York. In Mont-roig, he created his first three-dimensional works. One year later, also in Mont-roig, he began working on a series of object-paintings.

In 1932, he returned to the world of ballet, creating the curtain, sets, costumes and props for "Jeux d'enfants," to be performed by Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo. He moreover exhibited at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York.

Around 1934, he initiated what some have called his "wild period" with four pessimistic paintings. Due to the Spanish Civil War, he decided to remain in Paris, where he was joined by his wife and daughter. The family remained in the city until 1940. There, in 1937, he completed a large mural painting, "The Reaper," for the Spanish Republican Government’s pavilion at the Paris World Fair.

In January 1940, he began a series of twenty-three gouaches (water paint), which would come to be known as "The Constellations." He continued to work on this project in Palma de Mallorca and completed it in Mont-roig in 1941. That same year saw his first major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Over the following two years, he worked exclusively on paper with the sole exception of "Painting with Art Nouveau Frame."

In 1944, he produced his first ceramic pieces, initiating a period of collaboration with the ceramicist Josep Llorens Artigas that would last three years. The same year, he published a set of 50 prints known as the "Barcelona Series," and once again began painting on canvas, a technique he had all but abandoned since 1939.

Over the following years, he produced his first bronze sculptures and alternated between two types of painting, the first a more reflexive style, the second more impulsive.

In 1954, Miró embarked on a new period of collaboration with Llorens Artigas. In 1958, the pair jointly created two large ceramic murals for the UNESCO building in Paris. The project received the Guggenheim International Award.

The 1960s saw Miró retrospectives at such venues as the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, the National Museum of Art in Tokyo, the Foundation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de Vence and the Antic Hospital de la Santa Creu in Barcelona. Miró continued sculpting and completed his first bronze monuments, "Sun Bird" and "Moon Bird."

Joan Miró continued to produce new works to the end of his days. In the last years of his life, he received several awards in recognition of his achievements, such as the Carnegie International Grand Prize for Painting in 1967 or the Spanish Gold Medal for Fine Arts in 1980. He died on December 25th, 1983, in Palma de Mallorca and was buried in Montjuïc Cemetery in Barcelona.



Marta Franco Guallar :.