JOAN MIRÓ FOUNDATION, Collection
Language: English / USA
Miró's largest collection of paintings, sculptures, and drawings is a unique opportunity to discover his artistic world, but keep in mind that unfortunately only a portion of this immense archive is on display.
The permanent collection follows simple chronological order and is divided into eight sections; your tour begins with a huge tapestry which was made in 1979 for the Foundation. After the Mercury Fountain, which as I mentioned has mercury instead of water, you come to a wide open space where you can admire Woman, a bronze sculpture of an egg balanced on a wooden box with a strange hole in the center.
The Joan Prat Hall is named after a friend and collector of Miró, and features a selection of works from his beginnings until the 1920s. I'd like to point out the landscapes with their beautiful, solar colors of the Mediterranean, and an amazing portrait from 1919 of a feline-eyed maiden with a hypnotic stare.
As you progress through the museum, you'll note how Miró moves farther and farther away from the figurative style of his early years and enters the dream world of surrealism. A perfect example is The White Glove, with deformed fingers on a hand that waves in a blue sky!
In the 1930s, Miró's imagination was forced to face reality. In "Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement" you can feel all of his anguish and helplessness in the face of Spain's political situation.
The works after 1945 displayed in a hallway return to a life full of harmony and the desire to live after the tragedy of the Second World War.
His works from the 60s and 70s are located in an L-shaped room, and you can note how even in old age the artist's expressive language never ceased to evolve.
The permanent collection ends with a series of photographs of the artist.
FUN FACT: Miró came to hate conventional painting so much that in numerous writings and interviews he expressed his desire to "rape" and "kill it" in order to reach new means of expression.
And with this we have finished our tour of the Fundació Joan Miró. MyWoWo thanks you for staying with us, and will see you at the next Wonder of the World!
