Joan Mir Brief Bio Born Joan Mir i

Joan Miró

Brief Bio • Born: Joan Miró i Ferrà was born on April 20, 1893 in Barcelona, Spain • His father was a watchmaker and his mother was a goldsmith • Wife: Pilar Juncosa • Children: daughter, Dolors • Death: heart failure; December 25, 1983 in Palma, Mallorca

Life Events • He began drawing at age 7 and enrolled in art school at age 8 • Nearly died of Typhoid fever in 1911 • Miró had his first solo exhibition in 1918 where his work was defaced and ridiculed • In 1920 he moved to Paris to continue his studies of Cubism and Surrealism • He created lithographs (printing from a flat surface treated so as to repel ink except where it is required for printing), murals, tapestries, and sculptures by combining abstract art with Surrealism

Life Events cont. • He moved from drawing and painting to creating collages and sculptures made of plastic • In 1974 he created the “World Trade Center Tapestry” with fellow Catalan artist Josep Royo – it was his most expensive work and it was lost during the Sept. 11 th attacks • In 1979 Miró received and honorary doctorate degree from the University of Barcelona • There is a museum dedicated entirely to his work in Barcelona • Today his artwork sells for anywhere between $250, 000 to $17 million

Surrealism The Farm (1921 -1922) Still Life with Old Shoe (1937) The Tilled Field (1923 -1924) Portrait of Vincent Nubiola (1917)

Lithography Barcelona Series (1939 -1944) The Morning Star (1939) The Navigator’s Hope (1968 -1973)

Sculpture at the Brunswick building in Chicago Dona i Ocell The Caress of a Bird (1967)

World Trade Center Tapestry (1974)

Personnage Oiseaux (1978) This mural Miró began at age 79 and completed at age 85. It is made of 1 million pieces of marble and Venetian glass.

Joan Miró