Spanish Surrealist Painter and Sculptor, 1893-1983

"I'd like to get beyond easel painting, which in my opinion pursues a petty aim, and find ways of getting closer, in terms of painting, to the broad mass of human beings who have always been in my thoughts."

- Joan Miró, 1958

          Joan Miró was a famous painter and a ceramicist who was born on April 20, 1893 in Barcelona, Spain. His parents were goldsmiths and watchmakers. He spent every winter in Paris and summers at his family's farm outside of Barcelona. He joined a small community, Montparnasse, of poets and writers. This is where he learned to draw. Although other Surrealists were outgoing, Miró was hardworking and focused mainly on his work and his public. Soon after, he then moved to France in the year 1920. In 1929, he married Pilar Juncosa, another artist. Two years later they had a daughter named Dolores. He moved to France during the Spanish Civil War, but came home during World War II when Nazis invaded France. He then moved to Majorca because he wanted to avoid France. Pilar and Joan were happily married until Joan's death on December 25, 1983.

     Joan Miró's career:

• First studied under Franciso Galim -- originally painted in Fauvist and Cubist style
• Also studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at Academie Gali
• Explored Paris
• Miró’s first major work, “Harlequin's Carnival” (1924-1925), showed special ideas of art
• First solo exhibition failed
• Went to Paris to find Pablo Picasso -- introduced Miró to Surrealism in 1924
• Miró liked art and the subconscious mind, but cynical of Surrealism -- took another path
• Wanted to show humans and animals in a new light and “rediscover the sources of human feeling” (ArtistPortfolio.net)
• Created own biomorphic and semi-abstract forms in late 1920’s -- continued for the rest of his life
• Worked with potter, Josep Llorens Artigas, in 1944
• Started off with small pieces and worked up to bigger ones -- many were bronzed
• Art work very distinct, well-known, and instantly recognizable -- vibrant colors and strange ideas
• Breton inspired this particular style
• Wanted to be famous, painted many murals -- one at Terrance Hilton Hotel and one at Harvard University
• At about 80-years-old started printmaking and designing stained glass windows
• Received several awards from his work
• The Museum of Modern Art in New York dedicated exhibit to him  
• Said to be one of the best Surrealists and Abstract artists

Works Cited