Joan Miró

Joan Miró (April 20, 1893 – December 25, 1983) was a painter, sculptor and ceramist born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Related Topics:
April 20 - 1893 - December 25 - 1983 - Painter - Sculptor - Ceramist - Barcelona - Catalonia - Spain

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Miró was drawn towards the artistic community that was gathering in Montparnasse and in 1920 moved to Paris. There, under the influence of Surrealist poets and writers, he developed his unique style.

Related Topics:
Montparnasse - 1920 - Surrealist - Poet - Writer

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In 1926, he collaborated with Max Ernst on designs for Sergei Diaghilev. With Miró's help, Ernst pioneered the technique of "grattage," in which he troweled pigment from his canvases.

Related Topics:
1926 - Max Ernst - Sergei Diaghilev - Grattage

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Miró married Pilar Juncosa in Palma de Mallorca on October 12, 1929, and on July 17, 1931 the couple had a daughter, Dolores.

Related Topics:
Pilar Juncosa - Palma de Mallorca - October 12 - 1929 - July 17 - 1931 - Daughter

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Shuzo Takiguchi published the first monograph on Miró in 1940.

Related Topics:
Shuzo Takiguchi - 1940

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Joan Miró won the 1954 Venice Biennale printmaking prize, and in 1980 he received the Gold Medal of Fine Arts from King Juan Carlos of Spain. In 1959, Andre Breton asked Miro to represent Spain in, The Homage to Surrealism, among the works of Salvador Dali, Enrique Tabara, and Eugenio Granell.

Related Topics:
1954 - Venice Biennale - Printmaking - 1980 - King - Juan Carlos of Spain - Salvador Dali - Enrique Tabara

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In his final decades Miró accelerated his work in different media producing hundreds of ceramics, including the Wall of the Moon and Wall of the Sun at the UNESCO building in Paris. He also made temporary window paintings (on glass) for an exhibit.

Related Topics:
UNESCO - Paris

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In the last years of his life Miró wrote his most radical and least known ideas, exploring the possibilities of gas sculpture and four dimensional painting.

Related Topics:
Gas sculpture - Four dimensional painting

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Miró died in Majorca, Spain, and was interred in the Montjuïc cemetery in Barcelona.

Related Topics:
Majorca - Montjuïc

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Miró is considered one of the most radical Surrealist theorists. Surrealism founder André Breton described him as "the most Surrealist of us all". In numerous writing and interviews dating from the 1930s forward, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods and his desire to abandon them (in his words "murder" and "assassinate" them) in favor of more contemporary means of expression. Today, his paintings sell between US$250,000 and US$8 million. Many of his pieces are exhibited in the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona.

Related Topics:
Surrealism - André Breton - 1930s

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