Artist Biography

JOAN MIRO

Joan Miro Spanish Artist: b. 1893-1983. Joan Miro was born as the son of a goldsmith and jewelry maker in Barcelona in Northern Spain. Joan Miro studied art at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts and at the Academia Gali. Miro worked as an accountant for nearly two years until he had a nervous breakdown. In the beginning of his career he dabbled in different 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 permanently in the French capital. From 1924 on, Miro joined the circle of the Surrealist theorist Andre Breton. By 1930 the artist had developed his own style and in the 1930s the artist’s fame and recognition became international. From 1940 to 1948 he was back in Spain. In 1947, Joan Miro came to the United States for the first time. He had several own-man shows. The most important one was a retrospective at the MOMA – The Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1951 and in 1959.