Joan Miró

1893–1983

In Tate Liverpool

Constellations: Max Ernst

Free entry

In Tate Modern

Materials and Objects: Collage

Free entry

In Tate Modern

In the Studio: International Surrealism

Free entry

See all artworks on display

Biography

Joan Miró i Ferrà ( mi-ROH, also US: mee-ROH, Catalan: [ʒuˈam miˈɾo j fəˈra]; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona in 1975, and another, the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró, was established in his adoptive city of Palma de Mallorca in 1981.

Earning international acclaim, 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. In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods as a way of supporting bourgeois society, and declared an "assassination of painting" in favour of upsetting the visual elements of established painting.

This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License. Spotted a problem? Let us know.

Read full Wikipedia entry

Artworks

Left Right

Joan Miró Painting

1927
Joan Miró Women and Bird in the Moonlight

1949

On display at Tate Liverpool part of Constellations
Joan Miró Head of a Catalan Peasant

1925

On display at Tate Modern part of In the Studio
Joan Miró A Star Caresses the Breast of a Negress (Painting Poem)

1938
Joan Miró Message from a Friend

1964
Joan Miró Composition

1947
Joan Miró The Matador

1969
Joan Miró Constellations

1959

View by appointment

See all 14

Artist as subject

Left Right

R.B. Kitaj Mort

1966

View by appointment
Eileen Agar, Andrew Lambirth Typewritten lecture entitled ‘Surrealism in England in the 1930s’ given by Andrew Lambirth and Eileen Agar at the Royal College of Art

[1988]

View by appointment
Sidney Janis Gallery Leaflet for an exhibition entitled, ‘Selection of French Art’ at the Sidney Janis Gallery

1955
Eileen Agar Notes by Eileen Agar on her stay with Picasso at Mougins

[1988]

View by appointment
Ben Nicholson OM First draft of an article by Ben Nicholson with editing

30 November 1966

View by appointment
Graham Sutherland OM Sketchbook 38

[c.1962–7]
Ben Nicholson OM Drafts for an article with the heading, ‘Apropos letter to Charles H.’

September 1968

View by appointment
Ben Nicholson OM List of essays with the heading, ‘Essays by Anatole Jakovski’

date not known

View by appointment
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (London, UK), Klaus Hinrichsen Typescript for ‘Interned with Kurt Schwitters’

[May 1988]

See all 9

Film and audio

Left Right

Playlist

MixTate: Kara-Lis Coverdale on Joan Miró

Montréal-based composer Kara-Lis Coverdale sees a story of engagement in Joan Miró’s etching
TateShots

Joan Miró: Retrospective

Joan Miró's works come to London in the first major retrospective here for nearly 50 years
TateShots

Joan Miró: A Retrospective

Curator walkthrough of Joan Miró's major restrospective in 2011
Listen

Joan Miró Study Day – Part 1

Audio recordings of the past Tate Modern conference, Joan Miró Study Day, related to the 2011 Miro exhibition at Tate …
Listen

Joan Miró Study Day – Part 2

Audio recordings of the past Tate Modern conference, Joan Miró Study Day, related to the 2011 Miro exhibition at Tate …
Listen

The Monster's Smile: Joan Baixas in Conversation with Aura Satz

Theatre director, dramatist, poet and painter Joan Baixas talks about the seminal project ‘Mori el Merma’, for which his company …
TateShots

Desmond Morris on Joan Miró

The zoologist and artist tell us about the time he took Miró on a tour of London Zoo

Features

Left Right

Tate Etc

Between terror and ecstasy: Artistic hallucination

Jean-François Chevrier

Stories of hallucinations in art and literature date back to the Bible, but the idea of the artistic hallucination is …
Art Term

Automatism

In art, automatism refers to creating art without conscious thought, accessing material from the unconscious mind as part of the …
Read

Joan Miró 1893–1983 and Joan Baixas born 1946Merma Never Dies 1978

Clare Gormley

Case study on Joan Miró and Joan Baixas's Merma Never Dies 1978, part of Performance at Tate: Into the Space …
Tate Etc

A hymn of freedom: Joan Miró I

Beatriu Meritxell

In 1937, at the height of the Spanish Civil War, several Spanish artists were commissioned by the Republican Government to …
Tate Etc

Miró in London: Joan Miró IV

Iria Candela

Iria Candela on Miró in London Tate Etc issue 22
Tate Etc

Say hello to my python: Joan Miró III

Desmond Morris

The celebrated zoologist and Surrealist painter shared his first London exhibition with Miró – and introduced him to a snake …
Tate Etc

On the roll of a dice: Joan Miró II

Ernest Hemingway

When Miró was a penniless painter in Paris in the 1920s, he became friends with the writer Ernest Hemingway, who …
Tate Etc

Burn, canvas, burn: Joan Miró

William Jeffett

While the work of Joan Miró (1893–1983) may be well known across the world, a forthcoming exhibition at Tate Modern …
Tate Etc

Tate Etc. issue 21: Spring 2011

Tate Etc. Issue 21: Visiting and revisiting Art, etcetera; online edition of Tate's magazine