"Art class was like a religious ceremony to me. I would wash my hands carefully before touching paper or pencils. The instruments of work were sacred objects to me." Joan Miró
1893-1983 Spanish Surrealistic painter and sculptor, one of the 20th Century Painters
Born in Barcelona, he came of age as an artist in Paris in the 1920s. This decade saw the formative stages of the Surrealism movement, which emphasized the supremacy of the unconscious.
He favored the method of printmaking, but he worked in many media, including watercolor, pastel, collage, oil paint, etchings and Lithography.
In 1917, he met Francis Picabia.
In 1918 he had his first one man show in Spain.
In 1919, he made his first trip to Paris, where he met Pablo Picasso; the two became friends. For a time he travelled back and forth between Paris and Spain. While in Paris, he met Tristan Tzara. The Paris Dada group was active at this time and Joan became involved.
In 1923, his work was included in the Salon d'Automne.
In 1924, he formally joined the Surrealism group revolving around Andre Breton. It was Breton who referred to him as, "the most Surrealistic of us all!"
In 1929, he introduced Salvador Dalí to the Surrealists.
In 1941 was his first retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
His work is in the permanent collection of many of the world's great museums, including:
Source:
Rubin, William S., "Dada, Surrealism, and Their Heritage", Muesum of Modern Art, NY, 1968.
Last Updated 04.20.04