Miro

|Bio: Joan Miro |
|(1893-1983)|

Miro was born as the son of a goldsmith and jewelry maker in Barcelona in Northern Spain. He studied art at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts and at the AcademiaGali. His parents would rather have seen him taking a job as a serious businessman. He even took business classes in 1907 parallel to his art classes. Miro worked as an accountant for nearly twoyears until he had a nervous breakdown. His parents finally accepted their son's choice of a career as an artist without giving him too much support.

In the beginning of his career he dabbled indifferent painting styles that were fashionable at the turn of the century like Fauvism and Cubism.

In 1920 Miro made the first of a series of trips to Paris. In 1921 he settled permanentlyin the French capital. He met Pablo Picasso and many of the other great painters and artists living in Paris - the center of arts in the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century.From 1924 on, Miro joined the circle of the Surrealist theorist Andre Breton. His painting style took a turn to Surrealism. His comrades were Andre Masson and Max Ernst. But he never integratedhimself completely into this group dominated by Andre Breton. He remained an outsider.

By 1930 the artist had developed his own style. Miro art is hard to describe. It is characterized bybrilliant colors combined with simplified forms that are reminiscent of drawings made by children at the age of five. Joan Miro art integrates elements of Catalan folk art. He liked to compare his visualarts to poetry.

In the 1930s the artist's fame and recognition became international. From 1940 to 1948 he was back in Spain. During this period he experimented in different media; sculpture,...