Joan Miró i Ferrà (Barcelona, 1893 - Palma, 1983)
Joan Miró i Ferrà. Painter, sculptor, engraver and ceramist, considered one of the greatest representatives of Surrealism. In his work he reflected his interest in the subconscious, in the "infantile" and in his country. At first he showed strong fauves, cubist and expressionist influences, moving to a flat painting with a naïve air, as is his well-known painting "La Masía" from the year 1920. All the elements of this work are clearly represented, giving them a solidity oneiric. Other very representative elements in the works of Miró that will be repeated throughout his life will be the harlequin, the Catalan peasant, the constellations or the birds. From his stay in Paris, his work becomes more dreamlike, coinciding with the points of surrealism and joining this movement, in fact, Breton thought he would become the most surreal of all. Miró developed what Breton called "pure psychic automatism". In numerous interviews and writings dating from the 1930s, Miró expressed his wish to abandon conventional methods of painting, in his own words "kill them, kill them or violate them", to favor a form of expression that was contemporary, and not wanting to bend to their demands and aesthetics even with their commitments to the surrealists. After the Spanish Civil War his vision of the world darkened, making his works more and more sinister. The Surrealists helped to sow the seed so that the already close abstract expressionism would emerge. One of his major projects was the creation in 1975 of the Joan Miró Foundation, located in Barcelona, a cultural and artistic center to spread the new trends of contemporary art, constituting a large fund of works donated by the author; Other places with important funds of their works are the Pilar i Joan Miró Foundation in Palma de Mallorca, the MNAM in Paris and the MoMA in New York.
Text source: HONOUR, Hugh and FLEMMING, John. World History of Art Ed. Akal. Madrid, 2004
Text source: http://www.arteespana.com/joanmiro.htm // image: https://elpais.com/ccaa/2017/11/04/catalunya/1509821129_569055.html
