President Macron and the Royal Majesties of Spain inaugurated the exhibition “Miro, la couleur de mes rêves”. With Catalonia in the news, one of its greatest artists, Joan Miró, is at Grand Palais de París.
The Spanish was one of the key figures of Surrealism. Spanning over 70 years, the show features 250 paintings, sculptures and drawings.
Miró hung out with the Paris based surrealists but developed a style that was all his own, creating a vocabulary of personal symbols for his brightly coloured paintings and ceramics. At first glance his works are playful and full of joy but there’s a darker undercurrent that adds depth.
This exhibition explores Joan Miro’s influences, from prehistoric cave paintings to Japanese Art, before focusing on the innovative work he produced in Paris and Mallorca.
Some of his best works are in Fundación Miró en Mallorca, where the artist lived and worked until his death in 1983. It includes his house, a museum and a sculpture garden.
He worked extensively not only painting but also in lithography, besides producing numerous murals, tapestries and sculptures for public spaces.
The Catalan painter combined Abstract Art with Surrealist fantasy. His mature style evolved from tension between his fanciful, poetic impulse and his vision of modern life harshness.
Miró sought to establish means of metaphorical expression, to discover signs that stand for nature in a trascendent poetic sense.
He wanted to portray nature as depicted by a primitive person or a hiper-sensitive child.
“For me, a painting must give off sparks. It must dazzle like the beauty of a woman or a poem” said Joan Miró.
Thirty five years after his death, this poet of colour continues to inspire our curiosity and fascination through his extraordinary simplistic and surrealist style.