Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOP SIGHT
FUNDACIÓ JOAN MIRÓ
Joan Miró, the city's best-known 20th-century artistic progeny, bequeathed
this art foundation to his home town in 1971. Its light-filled buildings, de-
signed by close friend and architect Josep Lluís Sert (who also built Miró's
Mallorca studios), are crammed with seminal works, from Miró's earliest timid
sketches to paintings from his last years.
Sert's Temple to Miró's Art
Sert's shimmering white temple to one of Spain's artistic luminaries is considered one of the
world's most outstanding museum buildings. The architect designed it after spending many
of Franco's dictatorship years in the USA as the head of the School of Design at Harvard
University. The foundation rests amid the greenery of the mountains and holds the greatest
single collection of the artist's work, containing around 220 of his paintings, 180 sculptures,
some textiles and more than 8000 drawings spanning his entire life. Only a small portion is
ever on display.
The Collection
The exhibits give a broad impression of Miró's artistic development. The first couple of
rooms (11 and 12) hold various works, including a giant tapestry in his trademark primary
colours. Room 13, a basement space called Espai 13, leads you downstairs to a small room
for temporary exhibitions.
Next (oddly enough) comes room 16, the Sala Joan Prats, with works spanning the early
years until 1931, entitled The Early Years and Paris and Surrealism. Here, you can see how
the young Miró moved away, under surrealist influence, from his relative realism (for in-
stance his 1917 painting
Ermita de Sant Joan d'Horta
) towards his own unique style
that uses primary colours and morphed shapes symbolising the moon, the female form and
birds.
This theme is continued upstairs in room 17, the Sala Pilar Juncosa (named after his
wife), which covers the years 1932-55, his surrealist years. Rooms 18 and 19 contain mas-
terworks of the years 1956-83, and room 20 a series of paintings done on paper. Room 21
hosts a selection of the private Katsuka collection of Miró works from 1914 to the 1970s.
Room 22 rounds off the permanent exhibition with some major paintings and bronzes from
the 1960s and 1970s. On the way here, you will see
Mercury Fountain
by Alexander
