“A form gives me an idea, this idea evokes another form, and everything culminates in figures, animals, and things I had no way of foreseeing in advance.”
Joan Miró
(b. Barcelona, Spain, 1893, d. Palma, Spain, 1983)
Joan Miró was a Spanish artist celebrated for his paintings, sculptures, and ceramics. He was born to Miquel Miró Adzerias, a goldsmith and watchmaker, and Dolors Ferrà i Oromí, the daughter of a cabinetmaker. His family’s strong tradition of craftsmanship greatly influenced his artistic growth. At age 14, in 1893, Miró enrolled at La Lonja’s Escuela Superior de Artes Industriales y Bellas Artes in Barcelona. Between 1912 and 1915, he further studied at Francesc Galí’s Escola d’Art in the same city. In 1928, he began creating sculptural reliefs and wall-mounted constructions using found and altered materials, reflecting his engagement with Dada and Surrealism during his intermittent stays in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s. Throughout his career, he continually refined this technique of combining found objects into suggestive, often whimsical compositions. In 1944, Miró crafted several forms in clay, including the original models for “Moonbird” and “Sunbird,” figures that recurred across various media in his work. In the early 1960s, he began casting these ceramic and sculptural pieces in bronze, often using objects he had collected around his farm in Montroig, Catalunya. These works exhibited a wide range of forms and surface treatments, from raw and unfinished to darkly patinated or brightly painted.
Miró received early encouragement from art dealer José Dalmau, who hosted his first solo exhibition at his Barcelona gallery in 1918. Throughout his life, Miró had numerous exhibitions worldwide, including shows at Galerie la Licorne and Galerie Pierre in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Tate Gallery in London. He also curated a major retrospective at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris. Even after his passing, his work continues to be displayed in some of the world’s most esteemed museums. Miró was also honored with numerous awards, including the Grand Prize for Graphic Work at the Venice Biennale in 1954, the Guggenheim International Award in 1958, and the Gold Medal of Fine Arts in 1980.
Joan Miró passed away on December 25, 1983, in Palma, Mallorca, Spain.
