• 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.

Joan Miró ©Photo, Joan Miró, Carl Van Vechten, 13 June, 1935; Quotation, Joan Miró 1958

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