Joan Miró
1893 -1983
Joan Miró i Ferrŕ was a Spanish (Catalan) painter, sculptor, and ceramist born in Barcelona, Spain. His work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride.
Young Miró was drawn towards the arts community that was gathering in Montparnasse and in 1920 moved to Paris. There, under the influence of the poets and writers, he developed his unique style: organic forms and flattened picture planes drawn with a sharp line. Generally thought of as a Surrealist because of his interest in automatism and the use of symbols, Miró's style was influenced in varying degrees by Surrealism and Dada, yet he rejected membership to any artistic movement in the interwar European years. André Breton, the founder of Surrealism, described him as "the most Surrealist of us all.
In 1926, he collaborated with Max Ernst on designs for Sergei Diaghilev. With Miró's help, Ernst pioneered the technique of grattage, in which he toweled pigment onto his canvases. Miró married Pilar Juncosa in Palma de Mallorca on October 12, 1929, and they had daughter.
In 1959, André Breton asked Miró to represent Spain in The Homage to Surrealism exhibition together with works by Enrique Tábara, Salvador Dalí, and Eugenio Granell.
By not becoming an official member of the Surrealists, Miró was free to experiment with any artistic. Miró's artistic autonomy is reflected in his work and his willingness to work with several media. Four-dimensional painting is a theoretical type of painting Miró proposed in which painting would transcend its two-dimensionality and even the three-dimensionality of sculpture.
In his final decades Miró accelerated his work in different media producing hundreds of ceramics, including the Wall of the Moon and Wall of the Sun at the UNESCO building in Paris.
Joan Miró won several awards in his lifetime. In 1958 he was given the Venice Biennale print making prize, in 1959 the Guggenheim International Award, and in 1980 the Gold Medal of Fine Arts from King Juan Carlos of Spain. He also received an award for all of his works at the Miro Musuem, found in the United States, for all of his great works. This reward was called the Miro Memorial Award, which was given to him after his death.
He died bedridden, at his home in Palma, Mallorca on December 25, 1983.
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