Joan Miró
Biography
The Spanish artist Joan Miró was born on 20.4.1893 in Barcelona. His father Miquel is a goldsmith and watchmaker. He spends his childhood in Barcelona as well as on vacation in Tarragona and Montroig, the home of his father, and on Mallorca. From 1907 Joan Miró attends the commercial school in Barcelona as well as the art academy La Lonja. From 1912 Joan Miró attends the avant-garde Escola d‘Art de Francisco Galí in Barcelona. His own paintings at this time are oriented on Fauvism. In 1917 Miró meets Francis Picabia. 1918 takes place in the gallery Dalmau the first first solo exhibition. In 1919 Miró travels to Paris for the first time, where his friendship with Pablo Picasso began. In 1921 he rents his own studio in Paris. Also in 1921, the gallery La Licorne shows his paintings, but the exhibition was not a success. In 1921/22 he creates the painting „Farm“ - a programmatic work that illustrates the transition from a realistic way of seeing to pictorial visions of dreams. In 1923 Joan Miró meets Ernest Hemingway and Henry Miller as well as André Breton. Through Breton Joan Miró comes into contact with the Surrealists. He joins them and in 1925 exhibits his works together with Jean Arp, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Paul Klee, Man Ray, André Masson, Pablo Picasso and others in the first Surrealist exhibition at the Galerie Pierre. His paintings become more and more emblematic and abstracted. In the years 1929/30, Joan Miró went through a violent artistic crisis artistic crisis, which leads him to a kind of anti-painting. Around first „Papiers Collés“ and collages, which he exhibited in 1930 at the 1930 in the gallery Goemans in Brussels, as well as first lithographs, later lithographs, and later etchings. His pictures are less divided into small parts, but instead show large, overlapping areas of color, in which sparsely placed signs just barely association with the title. His strength as a colorist becomes more and more apparent, the pictorial space becomes two-dimensional. From 1940 Joan Miró lived in Palma de Mallora, Montroig and Barcelona. In 1954 he received the Grand International Graphic Prize at the Venice Biennale. Graphics and ceramics dominate his work for the next four years. In 1956 the artist moves to Palma de Mallorca, where the architect Sert builds the studio house „Son Abriñes“. Joan Miró receives numerous commissions for wall ceramics, which he carries out with the artist friend Artigas. In 1958 the wall ceramics for the UNESCO in Paris are completed. In 1970, the huge wall installation for the airport in Barcelona is created. In 1964, the garden „Le Labyrinthe“ of the Fondation Maeght with sculptures and ceramics by Miró is inaugurated in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. As early as 1941, the first retrospective took place at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, numerous other exhibitions and numerous honors followed. On 25.12.1983 Joan Miró died in Palma de Mallorca.
One thing merges into the other. Everything forms a unity. There is no domain that is different from others. Everything is interlinked.

Solo Exhibitions (Selection)
2022
Miró. His Most Intimate Legacy, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
2021
Joan Miró: Signos E Figurações, Museu Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, Portugal
Joan Miró. La Gran Belleza, Newlands House Gallery, Petworth, West Sussex, United Kingdom
2019
Joan Miró - Birth of the World, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)New York City, NY, United States
2018
Joan Miró - Poetische Welten, Kunsthaus Apolda Avantgarde, Apolda, Germany
Joan Miró, Order and disorder, Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, Spain
2017
Miró: The Experience of Looking, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Miro: World of Monsters, Max Ernst Museum, Brühl, Germany
Joan Miró Anti-Portrait Gallery, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
Joan Miró - From The Collection Of The Kreeger Museum, Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC, United States
2016
Joan Miró: Materiality And Metamorphosis, Museu Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, Portugal
Miró: Shape And Color, Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS, United States
Miró y el objeto, Caixa Forum Madrid, Madrid, Spain
2015
Miró and the Object, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
Joan Miró - Wand, Fries, Mural, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Miró in the Rijksmuseum gardens, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Miró – Malerei als Poesie, K20, Dusseldorf, Germany
Joan Miró - Obras Sobre Papel 1960-1978, Centre Pompidou Malaga, Málaga, Spain
2014
Joan Miró – Masterpeices From The Maeght Foundation, Umjetnicki paviljon / Art Pavilion Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Joan Miró - From Earth to Sky, Albertina, Vienna, Austria
2013
Joan Miró: Women, Birds, Stars, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Art, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan
Joan Miró. Obra gráfica, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
Miró - Poésie Et Lumière, Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne, Switzerland
2012
Miró! Poesia e luce, Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, Italy
Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, United States
2011
Joan Miró. L'escala de l'evasió, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
Miró, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
2010
Miró: The Dutch Interiors, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, United States
Miro. Die Farbe der Poesie, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany
Joan Miró – I Work Like A Gardener, Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden, Norway
Miró - I Work Like a Gardener, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishoj, Denmark
2009
Miró en son jardin, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
Miró - Dupin. Arte y poesía, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
2008
Joan Miró: Painting and Anti-Painting 1927–1937, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Miro: la métaphore de l'objet, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Carcassonne, Carcassonne, France
Miró - la tierra, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
2006
Joan Miro - parade of obsession, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan, South Korea
Joan Miró - Fantastische Welten, Kunsthalle in Emden, Emden, Germany
Miró - Camins inexplorats, Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
2004
Joan Miró, Museum of Fine Arts Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Joan Miró, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
Joan Miró 1917-1934, La naissance du monde, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2002
Joan Miro - 1918 – 1945, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Joan Miró - Schnecke Frau Blume Stern, Museum Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf, Germany
Homage to Gaudí, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
2001
Joan Miró : Métamorphoses des formes, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
1999
Joan Miró - Werke aus Mallorca, Museum Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany
Miró, la collection du Centre Pompidou, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
1998
Joan Miró - a creator of new worlds, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Joan Miro, Tensta Konsthall, Spanga, Sweden
1997
Joan Miró. Campesino catalán con guitarra, 1924, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
Joan Miró. Equilibri a l'espai, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
1996
Joan Miró - Zeichnungen und Skulpturen 1945 – 1983, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Joan Miró: Printmaker, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
1995
Miro – Spirit of the Orient, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
1994
Joan Miro - Les 3 bleus, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
1993
Joan Miró – Skulpturen, Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna, Austria
Joan Miró, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Joan Miró - campo de estrellas, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
1992
Miro - Personnages Oiseaux..., Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
1990
Joan Miró, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany
Joan Miró : rétrospective de l'oeuvre peint, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
1989
Joan Miró: Arbeiten auf Papier, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
Joan Miró, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1988
Miró: Gemälde, Plastiken, Zeichnungen und GraphikSchirn KunsthalleFrankfurt/MainGermany
Joan Mirò – Viaggio delle figureCastello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte ContemporaneaTurinItaly
1987
Miró escultor, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Joan Miró, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany
1986
Joan Miro, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
1985
Joan Miro and the Book, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, United States
1984
Miro - Les 3 Bleu, 1961, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Hommage à Miró, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
1983
Joan Miró: 1893-1983, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Miró: A 90th Birthday Tribute, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
1981
Joan Miro, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), Chicago, IL, United States
Group Exhibitions (Selection from 1980)
2022
A Time Of Your Own. Break Free. From The Shackles Of Everyday Life, Centre Pompidou Malaga, Málaga, Spain
Surrealism Beyond Borders, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
2021
Works From The Collection, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Sport, Spiel, Spaß, Kunsthalle Würth, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
Surrealism Beyond Borders, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, United States
Formen, Die Ihr Wesen Treiben, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Picasso to Kentridge: Modern Masterpieces on Paper, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
2020
extra large - Tapestries from Picasso and Le Corbusier to Louise Bourgeois, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2019
The Fabric of Modernity, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich, Germany
Beyond Realism | Dada and Surrealism, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Miró-Gaudí-Gomis, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
Préhistoire, Une Énigme Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2018
Beehave, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
2017
Ménagerie. An Animal Show From The Würth Collection, Würth Haus Rorschach, Chur, Switzerland
Surrealism and the Marvellous, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
2016
Dalí, Ernst, Miró, Magritte ...Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Modern Cat, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH, United States
Beckmann, Picasso, Giacometti & more., Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein with Hilti Art Foundation, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
2015
Miró & CoBrACobra Museum, Amstelveen, Netherlands
Chagall, Miró, Picasso und die Avantgard, Kaleidoskop der Moderne, Staatliches Museum Schwerin, Schwerin, Germany
Momat Collection, National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (MOMAT), Tokyo, Japan
Cézanne bis RichterKunstmuseum Basel - GegenwartBaselSwitzerland
2014
Collection III, National Museum of Art Osaka (NMAO), Osaka, Japan
This is not a museum, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
Le choix de la modernité. Rodin, Lam, Picasso, Bacon, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Lyon, France
Surreale Begegnungen, Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld, Germany
Zuspiel, Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, Germany
2013
Surrealism And The ObjectCentre PompidouParisFrance
Arp, Calder, and Miró: Modern Masters from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL, United States
From Monet to Picasso, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein with Hilti Art Foundation, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
From Picasso To Weidemann – Works From The Hok-collection, Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden, Norway
2012
Visions of Modernity, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany
Extra Large - Œuvres Monumentales De La Collection Du Centre Pompidou à Monaco, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, Monaco
The Avant-garde. From Picasso To Pollock, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
2011
Surrealismus in Paris, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland
Unsere Moderne - Cézanne. Miro. Matisse. Kirchner. Beckmann. Klee, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany
2010
On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Miró, Matisse & Picasso: Celebrating Color and Line, Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA, United States
Romanticism to Modernism: Graphic Masterpieces from Piranesi to Picasso, Boca Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL, United States
Du Greco à Dalí - Les grands maîtres espagnols de la collection Pérez Simón, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Quebec City, Canada
Manet to Picasso: Masterpieces from the Philadelph, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Sprengel Museum Hannover Liebesgeschichten. Sehnsucht, Hingabe und Erfüllung in Werken von Munch und Nolde bis Picasso, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Works from the Gallery CollectionCarl Solway GalleryCincinnati, OHUnited States
2009
Gipfeltreffen der Moderne - Das Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany
Art Focus - Matisse and His Circles—France Wild, France Refined, Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
2008
De Mirò à Warhol La Collection Berardo à Paris, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, France
Miró, Calder, Giacometti, Braque, Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom
From Manet to Miró: Modern Drawings from the Abello Collection, Meadows Museum, Dallas, TX, United States
Künstler Zeichnen – Sammler Stiften. 250 Jahre Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Die Hände der Kunst, Marta Herford, Herford, Germany
2007
Picasso and his collection, Museo Picasso, Barcelona, Spain
Die andere Sammlung. Hommage an Hildy und Ernst Beyeler, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland
BARCELONA 1947-2007, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
Surreal Things - Surrealism and Design, Victoria & Albert Museum - V&A, London, United Kingdom
2006
Dialogue avec le siècle 1906-1981, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
Société Anonyme - Modernism in America, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Verrückte Liebe: Von Dalí bis Bacon. Die Sammlung Ulla und Heiner Pietzsch, Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria
2005
Maestro del Collage-de Picasso a Rauschenberg, Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain
Dalí, Picasso, and the Surrealist Vision, The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, United States
Von Spitzweg bis Baselitz - Streifzüge durch die Sammlung Würth, Museum Würth, Künzelsau, Germany
2004
Woman - Metamorphosis of modernity, Fundación Joan Miró, BarcelonaSpain
De l’écriture á la peinture, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, United States
Das MoMA in Berlin. Meisterwerke aus dem Museum of Modern Art, New York, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
2003
Die Sammlung Wald - Glanzstücke der Malerei des 20. Jahrhunderts, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Die Fondation Maeght - Südliche Kunst unter nordischem Himmel, Weserburg | Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany
From Picasso to Pollock - Classics of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY, United States
2002
La Culture Pour Vivre, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Art through the ages, Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, Las Vegas, NV, United States
Surrealismus 1919 – 1944, K20, Dusseldorf, Germany
La Révolution surréaliste, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
París - Barcelona (1888 - 1936), Museo Picasso, Barcelona, Spain
2001
From Picasso to Tápies - Masterpieces from the Reina Sofía, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands
Bilderschatz - The Best of Kunsthaus, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Surrealism: Desire Unbound, Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
Spanien - Malerei • Graphik • Plastik, Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Linz, Austria
Ornament und Abstraktion, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland
2000
Cosmos - From Goya to De Chirico from Friedrich to Kiefer, Palazzo Grassi - Pinault Collection, Venice, Italy
Making Choices, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Surreale Welten - Von Piranesi bis Dubuffet, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
1999
Surrealism - Two Private Eyes, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY, United States
Sight Gags: Grotesque, Caricature and Wit in Modern and Contemporary Drawings, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
1998
Peggy Guggenheim: A Centennial Celebration, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
From Picasso to Dali, MNAC - Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal
Diseño industrial en España, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
1997
From Henri Toulouse-Lautrec to Andy Warhol: Exploring Techniques, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)New York City, NY, United States
Surrealism and After: The Gabrielle Keiller CollectionScottish National Gallery of Modern
1996
Picasso, Guston, Miró, De Kooning, Weserburg | Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany
Moderna Museet Stockholm zu Gast in Bonn Die großen Sammlungen IV, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany
1995
Dessins surréalistes: visions et techniques, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Impressions of Nature, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)New York City, NY, United States
Keramik von Picasso, Miro, Tàpies, Museum Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland
Manifeste, Une histoire parallèle (1960-1990), Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Wege der Moderne- Die Sammlung Beyeler, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
1991
Picasso - Miró - Dalí and the Beginnings of Spanish Modernism, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Contemporary Art in a Modern Context, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
Colección Banco Hispano Americano. Pintura y escultura de vanguardia, Museo de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo de Santander (MAS), SantanderSpain
1989
Colección Beyeler, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Master Prints from the CollectionMuseum of Modern Art (MoMA)New York City, NYUnited States
60 Meisterwerke aus der Solomon R. Gugenheim Foundation, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
1988
Abstractions, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
El siglo de Picasso, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
1987
Fifty Years of Collecting, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, NY, United States
A Century of Modern Sculpture: The Patsy and Raymond Nasher Collection, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, United States
1986
A Half-Century of European Painting 1919-1960 from the Guggenheim Museum New York, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
A Half-Century of European Painting 1919-1960 from the Guggenheim Museum New York, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
1985
Large Drawings, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Elementarzeichen. Urformen visueller Information, Staatliche Kunsthalle Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Les vingt ans du Musée à travers sa collection, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
1984
Creation - Modern Art And Nature, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
The Moderns, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Museum Collection Miró and Picasso, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Alive To It All, Serpentine Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1982
L’univers d’Aimé et Marguerite Maeght, Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul, France
A Century of Modern Drawing, 1881–1981Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
1981
Collection Château Mouton Rothschild 1945-1978, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal Montreal, QC Canada
Words and Picture, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States
Bildhauertechniken. Dimensionen des Plastischen, Staatliche Kunsthalle Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Around Picasso, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York City, NY, United States