Joan Miró, the legendary Spanish painter, sculptor
and ceramist, was born in Barcelona in 1893. Miró's
early life was nothing out of the ordinary, at age
14 he enrolled in the "Escuela Superior de Artes
Industriales y Bellas Artes" where he studied for
three years.
After this he took on a job as a clerk In Barcelona
but after suffering a nervous breakdown Miró decided
that this wasn't the career for him so he returned
to his studies, this time at Francesc Gali's
"Escuela d'Art" where he studied for a further three
years up until 1915. Miró's first real breakthrough
came when he had an opportunity to display his art
in 1917. Local art dealer José Dalman had shown an
interest in the young artist's early work and used
his studio for the exhibition.
From this point on Miró's career as an artist really
took off. He made his first visit to Paris in 1919
and moved there a year later to be part of the
artistic community in Montparnasse . It was here as
well that he met his fellow countryman Pablo
Picasso, for the first time. After this Miró would
spend the rest of his life dividing his time between
Paris and Montroig back in his native Spain .
His first solo show in Paris followed quickly in
1921. Paris was the place to be for a young artist
at this time, it allowed Miró to meet many other
great artists and in 1924 Miró joined Andre Breton's
Surrealist movement. This gave Miró the opportunity
to work with fellow surreal artists Andre Masson and
Max Ernst and in 1926 he helped Ernst to pioneer his
"grattage" technique. Despite his ties with the
movement, it has been said that he was always
something of an outsider; indeed Breton later went
on to say of Miró that he was "the most surrealist
of us all". As Miró developed his new style he
claimed that he wanted to "assassinate" and "murder"
traditional painting techniques.
By the early 1930's Miró's own style was developing
and he was starting to get recognised as one of the
leading artists of his time. His vibrant colours and
almost amoebic shapes are reminiscent of a child's
drawings. On the home front, Miró had also been
married to Pilar Juncosa in 1929 and this period
also saw the arrival of their first daughter in 1931.
Miró was an artist revered for his adaptability and
his use of different media. In 1929 he started his
first experiments with lithography and his first
etchings and sculptures also date from around this
period. These different forms of artistic expression
would go on to form a huge part of his work and,
like his peer Picasso; it would ultimately make him
more accessible as an artist.
The 1936, due to the outbreak of the civil war, Miró
decided not the return to Spain ; he moved his wife
and daughter out to join him in Paris . He would not
return to his homeland for nearly five years. Miró
continued to experiment with new mediums and in 1944
he produced his first ceramics piece. By now his
renown was worldwide and he made his first trip to
America in 1947. He returned again frequently and
had successful one-man shows at the MoMA ( Museum of
Modern Art ) in New York in 1951 and 1959.
Some of the highlights in Miró's glittering career
include receiving the 1954 Venice Biennial
printmaking prize, in 1958 he was commissioned to do
two murals for the UNESCO building in Paris which
won the Guggenheim International Award for and in
1980 he received the Gold Medal of Fine Arts from
his sovereign, King Juan-Carlos.
Undoubtedly Miró was one of the 20th century's
finest artists - his legacy lives on today and a
huge volume of his work can be seen at the Fundacio
Joan Miró in Barcelona , a superb museum that is a
fine showcase to this extremely talented man.
