The Fundació Joan Miró ( ; "Joan Miró Foundation, Centre of Studies of Contemporary Art") is a museum of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

honoring

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , , ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist born in Barcelona. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona i ...

located on the hill called

Montjuïc Montjuïc () is a hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Etymology Montjuïc translates to "Jewish Mountain" from medieval Latin and Catalan, and remains of a medieval Jewish cemetery have been found there. Some sources suggest that Montjuïc ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

(

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

History

The idea for the foundation was made in 1968 by Joan Miró. Miró formed the foundation with his friend

Joan Prats Joan Prats (Barcelona, 1891 - Barcelona, 1970 ) was a Catalan art promoter and a close friend of Joan Miró. Life Joan Prats was born in 1891 to a family who sold hats. He was trained as an artist in the Llotja School, where he first met Joan M ...

. Miró wanted to create a new building that would encourage particularly younger artists to experiment with contemporary art. The building was designed by

Josep Lluís Sert Josep Lluís Sert i López (; 1 July 190215 March 1983) was a Spanish architect and city planner. Biography Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Sert showed keen interest in the works of his uncle, the painter Josep Maria Sert, and of Gaudí. He s ...

to ensure that this work could also be made available to the public and exhibited. He designed the building with courtyards and terraces and to create a natural path for visitors to move through the building. Building began on the mountain of

and the foundation opened on 10 June 1975. Not only was the architect a close friend of Miró but so was the first president

Joaquim Gomis Joaquim Gomis Serdañons (1902 in Barcelona – 1991) was a Catalan photographer, collector, entrepreneur, and promoter of the arts. Gomis was born in Barcelona on September 19, 1902 to a wealthy family. His father owned a business in the cotton tr ...

and Miró was amongst the first board. It was claimed that the new foundation represented a new way of viewing the concept of a museum and how the people of Barcelona could relate to their cultural heritage.Sert. P.8 Fundació Miró -Alexander Calder- 4 wings- 1972

Fundació Miró -Alexander Calder- 4 wings- 1972

Expansion in 1986 to the building added an auditorium and a library which holds some of the 10,000 items in the Foundation and Miró's collection.

Works by Joan Miró

Many of the works in the building were donated by the artist himself.Fundació Joan Miró
Barcelona.de, accessed September 2011 Highlights include: *''The wing of the lark ...'', 1967 *''Hermitage of San Juan Huerta'', 1917 *''Street Pedralbes'', 1917 *''Portrait of a boy'', 1919 *''Painting (the white gloves)'', 1925 *''Flame in space and Naked woman'', 1932 *''Character'', 1934 *'' Man and Woman in Front of a Pile of Excrement'', 1935 *'' Naked woman climbing a staircase'', 1937 *''No'', 1937 *''The Morning Star'', 1940 *'' Barcelona Series'', 1944 *''The Diamond smiles at twilight'', 1947–1948 *'' The Caress of a Bird'', 1967 *''The gold of the azure'', 1967 *''Painting on white to a solitary cell I, II, III'', 1968 *''Figure in front of the sun'', 1968 *''Catalan peasant by moonlight'', 1968 *''

Miró's Chicago ''Miró's Chicago'' (originally called ''The Sun, the Moon and One Star'') is a sculpture by Joan Miró. It is tall, and is made of steel, wire mesh, concrete, bronze, and ceramic tile. History In 1969 the Brunswick Corporation commissioned ...

'', 1968 *''Character'', 1970, May 1968, 1968–1973 *'' Tapestry of the Fundació'', 1979

Collection

In line with Miró's original idea the Foundation has a space named "" which is dedicated to promoting the work of young experimental artists. Many curators have been in charge of that program, including

Frederic Montornes Frederic may refer to: Places United States * Frederic, Wisconsin, a village in Polk County * Frederic Township, Michigan, a township in Crawford County ** Frederic, Michigan, an unincorporated community Other uses * Frederic (band), a Japanese r ...

, Monica Regàs, and

Ferran Barenblit Ferran Barenblit (born 1968, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine museum director. He studied Art History at the Universitat de Barcelona (1991) and Museology at New York University (1995). Ferran Barenblit was director of the Centre d'Art Santa Mònic ...

, who was later Director of MACBA. Although there is also work by

Peter Greenaway Peter Greenaway, (born 5 April 1942) is a Welsh film director, screenwriter and artist. His films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Flemish painting in particular. Common traits in his films are the ...

, Chillida,

René Magritte René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and bounda ...

, Rothko, Tàpies and Saura. The collection includes

Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and his ...

's ''4 Wings'' and ''

Mercury Fountain A mercury fountain is a fountain constructed for use with liquid metallic mercury ("quicksilver") rather than water. Mercury fountains existed in some castles in Islamic Spain; the most famous one was located at the Kasr-al-Kholaifa in Córdob ...

''. The ''Mercury Fountain'' uses the liquid metal mercury to create a fountain. As mercury is poisonous, the fountain is kept behind glass to protect the visitors. The museum uses

QRpedia QRpedia is a mobile Web-based system which uses QR codes to deliver Wikipedia articles to users, in their preferred language. A typical use is on museum labels, linking to Wikipedia articles about the exhibited object. QR codes can easily be gene ...

to allow visitors to read Wikipedia articles about objects in the collection, translated into their preferred language.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fundacio Joan Miro Buildings and structures completed in 1975 Art museums and galleries in Barcelona Modern art museums in Catalonia Miro, Joan Foundations based in Catalonia Sants-Montjuïc Modernist architecture in Barcelona Art museums established in 1975 1975 establishments in Spain 1975 establishments in Catalonia Miro, Joan Joan Miró

History

Works by Joan Miró

Collection

See also

References