Miró, Joan (zhōän` mērō`), 1893–1983, Spanish surrealist painter. After studying in Barcelona, Miró went to Paris in 1919. In the 1920s he came into contact with cubism cubism, art movement, primarily in painting, originating in Paris c.1907.

Cubist Theory

Cubism began as an intellectual revolt against the artistic expression of previous eras.
..... Click the link for more information. and surrealism surrealism (sərē`əlĭzəm)
..... Click the link for more information. . His work has been characterized as psychic automatism, an expression of the subconscious in free form. By 1930, Miró had developed a lyrical style that remained fairly consistent. It is distinguished by the use of brilliant pure color and the playful juxtaposition of delicate lines with abstract, often amebic shapes (e.g., Dog Barking at the Moon, 1926; Philadelphia Mus. of Art). In some of his works there is a distinct undertone of nightmare and horror. After 1941, Miró lived mainly in Majorca. He painted murals for hotels in New York City and Cincinnati and for the Graduate Center at Harvard. In 1958 he completed ceramic decorations for the UNESCO buildings in Paris. Many of his canvases are in the Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum.

Bibliography

See studies by J. T. Soby (1959), U. Apolonio (tr. 1969), and R. Penrose (1971).

Miró, Joan

Joan Miró, photograph by Yousuf Karsh, 1966.

(credit: Karsh/Woodfin Camp and Associates)

(born April 20, 1893, Barcelona, Spain—died Dec. 25, 1983, Palma de Mallorca) Spanish (Catalan) artist. He attended a commercial school and worked as an office clerk until a mental breakdown persuaded his artisan father to permit him to study art. From the beginning he sought to express concepts of nature metaphorically. From 1919 on he lived alternately in Spain and Paris, where he came under the influence of Dadaism and Surrealism. The influence of Paul Klee is apparent in his “dream pictures” and “imaginary landscapes” of the late 1920s, in which linear configurations and patches of colour look almost as though they had been set down randomly. His mature style evolved from the tension between this fanciful, poetic impulse and his vision of the harshness of modern life. He worked extensively in lithography and produced numerous murals, tapestries, and sculptures for public spaces.