Joan Miró Catalan, 1893-1983

Joan Miró is a major figure in the history of modern art. He began his fine art studies in Barcelona in the early 1900s and began exhibiting at Galeries Dalmau in his twenties. This was a golden age of avant-garde art in Europe, and Miró’s artistic circle included Pablo Picasso, the modern art dealer Pierre Matisse, Dada co-founder Tristan Tzara, and the Surrealist photographer Man Ray (who photographed Miró in the 1930s). He exhibited at the famous Salon d’Automne in Paris and documenta 1 in Kassel. In the 1950s, Miró was recognized by both the Venice Biennale and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Throughout his career Miró explored painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, and mosaic. His simple abstract linework, saturated fields of colour, and complex compositions influenced the works of later artists including Jackson Pollock and Alexander Calder.

Miró was the subject of major retrospectives at MoMA, New York; Galerie Lelong, Paris; Tate Modern, London; and the Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, among others. His work is held in major public and private collections around the world.