The ''Miró Wall'' is a ceramic tiled wall designed by Spanish artist

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 ...

for the

Wilhelm Hack Museum Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it form ...

Ludwigshafen Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it form ...

, Germany. The wall, which comprises 7,200 tiles, is wide and high.

Design

The elements in the mural are colorful and fanciful creatures. The mural was produced by

Joan Gardy Artigas Joan Gardy Artigas (born 1938) is a Catalan ceramist, artist and was a close collaborator with Joan Miró. Life Artigas was born on 18 June 1938 in Boulogne-Billancourt (near Paris) and his father was Josep Llorens Artigas who worked closely with ...

. He created the 7,200 tiles based on a design by Miró involving surreal figures and animals. Artigas had to work from an image which Miró had created at one-tenth the scale of the finished wall. Using that model, he marked out each section on an individual tile. The artwork was completed in 1979 and includes the signatures of both artists at the bottom, left-hand corner. Miró's signature is undated; Artigas' signature is dated 1979. Artigas was a second generation surrealist. His father had been a ceramicist for both

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and Miró. When Artigas' father wanted to retire, Miró brought the younger Artigas back from exile in France, where he had been avoiding the Spanish Francoist regime. Artigas junior worked with Miró for twenty years creating other similar sized murals for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

, IBM and the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos in Madrid. The mural was opened at the same time as the new museum was built. It was in the town's market place and had been constructed to hold the art collection of the

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

businessman, Wilhelm Hack, whose collection had been given to

. Hack saw the new museum as he died in 1985.

Construction

The tiles were fired in

Gallifa Gallifa is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Vallès Occidental in Catalonia, north-eastern Spain.Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). ''Guia de Catalunya'', Barcelona: Caixa de Catalunya. ( ...

, a village near Barcelona. They had to be transported to the museum. Because of the terrain, they were placed four to a box so they could be carried down the mountain by mule. After that, the tiles were transported by lorry and train to complete the journey from

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) to south western Germany. The wall has become discoloured from pollution and has not been cleaned because of the high cost. File:Miro-Wand (Signaturen).jpg, The artists' signatures File:Wilhelm-Hack-Museum 19.jpg, The tiles and their frame

References

Sources

*Marlis Jonas (Photos), Richard W. Gassen (text): city art space. Public Art in Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

Kehrer Verlag Kehrer Verlag is an art book publisher based in Heidelberg, Germany, specializing in photography, fine art, and sound art. Its books are produced in cooperation with Kehrer Design, the affiliated office for design and image processing. History T ...

, Heidelberg 2007, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Miro Wall Murals Buildings and structures in Ludwigshafen Walls in Germany Joan Miró Arts in Germany