Miro wanted to murder painting. He said so. 'I want to assassinate painting,' he told an interviewer in 1927. He meant that he wanted to destroy the conventions of easel painting and replace them with something more direct, more childlike, more alive. He then spent the next sixty years making paintings, which is either a contradiction or the longest murder in art history.
Key facts
- Lived
- 1893–1983, Spanish
- Movement
- Works held in
- 2 museums
Biography
He grew up in Barcelona, the son of a goldsmith and watchmaker. He studied at the Escola de Belles Arts and at Francesc Gali's art school, where Gali made students draw objects by touch, blindfolded, to develop their sense of form. Miro went to Paris in 1920 and fell in with the Surrealists. Andre Breton called him 'the most Surrealist of us all', which was a compliment. Miro's paintings from this period look like dreams transcribed by someone who has never seen a dream depicted before: biomorphic shapes, stars, eyes, birds, and moons floating on flat fields of colour.
The Constellations series, twenty-three small gouaches painted during the Second World War, are his masterwork. He started them in Normandy as the German army advanced, continued in Palma de Mallorca after fleeing, and finished them in Barcelona. Each one is dense with interlocking forms connected by fine black lines, like a musical score or a star chart.
His late work includes monumental ceramics, tapestries, and public sculptures. The Barcelona airport has a floor mosaic. The Joan Miro Foundation on Montjuic, designed by his friend Josep Lluis Sert, opened in 1975. He burned canvases, stabbed them, walked on them. He was eighty-five and still trying to murder painting.
Timeline
- 1893Born in Barcelona to a family of watchmakers and goldsmiths.
- 1920At 27, moved to Paris, spending every summer in Catalonia at the family estate in Montroig.
- 1924At 31, signed the Surrealist manifesto in Paris, aligning with Breton's movement while maintaining his own visual language.
- 1958At 65, completed two monumental ceramic murals for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
- 1975At 82, the Fundacio Joan Miro opened in Barcelona as a museum dedicated to his work.
Notable Works
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Related Artists
Frequently Asked Questions
Is joan miro abstract?
The relationship between Joan Miró's painting and nature has not been clarified. Some painters do not want their abstract paintings to suggest a literal scene.Joan miro artwork style?
Joan Miró's style drew on automatism. He also invented a vocabulary of signs and symbols to free the unconscious mind.Was joan miro a surrealist?
Joan Miró fell in with the Surrealists in Paris in 1920. André Breton called him 'the most Surrealist of us all'.What was joan miro art style?
Joan Miró developed a style that sprang from his own feelings, drawing on automatism. Closely associated with Surrealism, Joan Miró i Ferrà invented a vocabulary of signs and symbols to free the unconscious mind.When did joan miro became famous?
Joan Miró Ferra was born in Barcelona on April 20, 1893. At the age of fourteen he went to business school in Barcelona and also attended La Lonja, the academy of fine arts in the same city.When did joan miró die?
Joan Miró died in 1983 at the age of 90.When did joan miro live?
Joan Miró lived from 1893 to 1983.Why did joan miro die?
Joan Miró died in 1983 at the age of 90.Why is joan miro famous?
Joan Miró was the best pure painter among the Surrealists. His art is a free, lyrical mixture of folk tales, eroticism, sardonic humour, farmhouse scat-talk, and grotesque absurdity.Joan miro paintings style?
In 1925, Joan Miró's work took a decisive turn, stimulated by hunger-induced hallucinations involving his impressions of poetry. These resulted in the artist's 'dream paintings'.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for Joan Miró.
- [1] book guggenheim-guhe00solo Used for: biography.
- [2] book guggenheim-handboo00pegg Used for: biography.
- [3] book Robert Hughes, The Shock of the New, 1980 Used for: biography.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-05-24. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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