The Fundació Joan Miró (Joan Miró Foundation) was set up to promote awareness of the work and personality of Joan Miró and to stage exhibitions of artists from the 20th and 21st centuries: an open door for exchanging ideas and disciplines that constantly looks towards the future while at the same time possessing both international prestige and deep roots in Catalonia.
The Fundació is housed in an exceptional building designed by the architect Josep Lluís Sert and can be found in the Parc de Montjuïc, which enjoys magnificent views over Barcelona, housing the world’s largest public collection of Joan Miró paintings.
The Fundació Joan Miró is a remarkable space created by Joan Miró himself with the idea of making art accessible to all people.
The collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures and works on paper displayed in the Fundació is one of the most comprehensive selections of Miró’s oeuvre, offering a thorough overview of all the stages of his life and career.
A variety of spaces allow visitors to venture into an interdisciplinary exploration of the highly personal language and production of one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. A series of overarching themes illustrate key concepts in Miró’s work and the thinking of his times
HIGHLIGHTS
VIEWS FROM PATI NORD
An outstanding balcony over Barcelona that enjoys one of the most privileged views of the city. Surrounded by Sert’s rationalist architecture and Joan Miró’s work.
MORNING STAR
In the late summer of 1939, one month before the outbreak of the Second World War, Miró moved to Varengeville-sur-Mer, in Normandy, hoping to escape from the harsh circumstances surrounding…
In the late summer of 1939, one month before the outbreak of the Second World War, Miró moved to Varengeville-sur-Mer, in Normandy, hoping to escape from the harsh circumstances surrounding him. A period of seclusion would help his process of introspection, in which the night sky with its celestial bodies played an essential role.
“Constellations”, a series of twenty-three washes on paper, seemingly attempts to represent the entire order of the cosmos, with weightless figures relating to the Earth and sharing their universe with a large number of celestial signs.
FIGURE IN FRONT OF THE SUN
Figure in Front of the Sun displays the controlled gesture that distinguishes Miró’s painting in the late 1960s, an expressive freedom with no clear precedent in his work, but with…
Figure in Front of the Sun displays the controlled gesture that distinguishes Miró’s painting in the late 1960s, an expressive freedom with no clear precedent in his work, but with an undeniable compositional rigour. Black is the point of departure employed by the artist to outline and structure the painting. The incorporation of other colours is governed by divisions and empty spaces. In spite of its spontaneity, Miró never neglects the composition: the elimination of any one element would destroy the overall balance.
Black is the point of departure, employed by the artist to outline and structure the painting. The incorporation of the other colours is governed by the divisions and the empty spaces.
In spite of his spontaneity, Miró never neglects the composition: the elimination of any one element would destroy the overall balance.
FOUNDATION TAPESTRY
In 1972, in collaboration with Josep Royo, Miró produced his first textiles known as “sobreteixims”, which were a mix of painting, collage and tapestry. A year later, when he received…
In 1972, in collaboration with Josep Royo, Miró produced his first textiles known as “sobreteixims”, which were a mix of painting, collage and tapestry. A year later, when he received commissions for monumental tapestries in New York and Washington, he also produced one for the Fundació. Transferring a pictorial language to a medium such as tapestry, with its own specific difficulties, called for an adjustment that was primarily materialized in the expressive use of textures.
In 1988, the NorthAmerican Steve Reich, one of the leading figures of minimalism, composed a piece about the Jewish Holocaust. Almost thirty years later, this video work by Beatriz Caravaggio confers visual life on the score interpreted by the Kronos Quartet.
The exhibition features the Gaudí Series prints, which Miró produced as a tribute to the architect in 1979, and a selection of Miró’s sculptures which establish a dialogue with Joaquim Gomis’ photographs of Gaudí’s architecture.
