Updated April 2019

Joan Miró

1893-1983

Surrealism, Dada, Experimentalism

In the vertical art storage rack, you will find the following: Large Reproduction: People and Dog in Sun (1949) Posters: Art Elements & Principles posters to use in the discussion On the NSS PTA website, you will find digital images available for download as a .zip file. These can be sent to the teacher to project on their Smartboards: People and the Dog in the Sun (1949), Peacock Feathers (1958), The Dog Barking at the Moon (1926), The Dog Barking at the Moon (1952), Harlequin’s Carnival (1924)

In the black cabinet, you will find a white binder with a copy of this presentation.

Joan Miro

Art in the Classroom North Stratfield School

Personal Information

Name: Joan Miró i Ferrà

Nationality: Spanish

Born: April 20, 1893 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Died: December 25, 1983. Palma, Mallorca, Spain He was 90.

Lived: Born in Spain moved to Paris in 1920, but spent his summers back in Spain.

Family: Father was a goldsmith and watchmaker.

Professional Background Upon Miro’s first visit to Paris in 1918, he came under the influence of Braque and Picasso, and for a time he painted in the Cubist manner. (Cubism is an art style developed in the early 20th century, characterized by natural objects transformed into geometric shapes and seen from different visual standpoints at one time.) By 1925, however, he had become a member of the Surrealist group. He exhibited with them in their first show, and his work began to take on the style and character now associated with his name. At about this time he worked with Max Ernst on the sets and costumes of Romeo et Juliette, a Diaghilev Ballet Russe production. His famous Harlequin’s Carnival, now in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, was also painted at this time.

Ask: What do you think a Harlequin is? This is another name for a clown Ask: Can you find the Harlequin? A harlequin is usually represented with a checkered costume. This one has a guitar shaped body with a hole in the middle. Ask: What do you think is going on this painting? The following Description from Wikipedia: This specific painting is centered on a harlequin at a

carnival. Although the harlequin resembles a guitar, he still retains some of his harlequin characteristics such as a checkered costume, a mustache, an admiral's hat, and a pipe. The harlequin in this painting is sad, which could be due to the hole in his stomach. This detail may

Joan Miro

Art in the Classroom North Stratfield School

refer to Miró's personal life experiences, because at this point in his life he did not have much money for food and was on the brink of starvation. This is a painting of a celebration; all the characters seem to be happy due to the fact they are playing, singing, and dancing. Some of the objects in the painting are anthropomorphized, and some seem to be moving and dancing as well. One example is the ladder to the left of the painting, which has an ear and an eye (Albright-Knox Art Gallery). According to Miró, the ladder is a symbol of flight, evasion, and elevation. The green sphere to the right of the painting represents the globe because Miró, according to him, was obsessed with the idea of “conquering the world” (Albright-Knox Art Gallery). The cat in the bottom right of the painting represents Miró's actual cat, who was always next to him as he painted. The black triangle in the window in the top right corner represents the Eiffel Tower. The painting includes many other fantastical and magical elements such as mermaids, fish out of water, dancing cats, shooting stars, a creature with wings in a box resembling a die, floating musical notes, and a floating hand. There are many strange forms and squiggly shapes that seem to be moving or floating around the canvas. The beauty of the painting is in its widespread composition; every corner of the painting seems to be filled with some object, character, or shape, which makes the entire painting come to life. In 1928, Miro traveled to Holland and was exhibited for the first time in New York. He then began producing a group of collages that was shown in Paris in 1930, and in 1937 he painted a large mural for the Paris Exhibition. Miro left France in 1940 and went to the island of Majorca, where he continued to paint, began to make lithographs, and did ceramic work with Artigas. He returned to Paris in 1944, and divided his time between that city and Barcelona, continued to paint, but also designed tapestries and rugs, made ceramics, and created sculptures in stone and wood. Miro’s work, sometimes called “himorphic abstraction” is brilliant in color. It is carefully composed of curvilinear shapes that are as mobile and fluid as the changing shapes of the amoeba. He was the leader of the school of Surrealists whose work was disciplined yet not intellectual. His melting forms transport us to a timeless universe furnished with magical symbols and characters which approach human individuality. The fascination of Miro lies in the fact that we can never quite transform the ideas he offered into specific words or thoughts. Interestingly, Miro chose never to become an official member of the Surrealist movement even though his work is primarily classified as Surrealist. He did this because he wanted the freedom to remain an experimental artist and Artistic Style Some of the strangest and most fantastical pictures ever painted were made by a group of artists who began to work together in Paris in the 1920s. These artists called themselves the Surrealists. What is Surrealism? The word “sur” means ‘on top of’ in French, and ‘beyond’ when it is used at the beginning of English words. These artists invented the word Sur-realism to describe their work because what they painted was beyond what everyone thought of as being normal reality.

Joan Miro

Art in the Classroom North Stratfield School

Instead of trying to paint pictures that showed the real world, the Surrealists wanted to conjure up the world of the imagination-where anything at all is possible. Many of the magical things that they painted were inspired by their dreams. The Surrealists believed that dreams contained hidden meanings. “How did I think up my drawings and my ideas for painting? Well I'd come home to my Paris studio in Rue Blomet at night, I'd go to bed, and sometimes I hadn't any supper. I saw things, and I jotted them down in a notebook. I saw shapes on the ceiling...”-- Joan Miro Miro was one of the first artists to develop a style called “automatic drawing” Ask: What does the word “automatic” imply? An artist who draws in this style is supposed to suppress his or conscious though and let their hand run randomly across the page. This is to create something that truly comes from within the subconscious of the artist. If something turned out not to look like anything in particular, they did not go back and correct it. About the Artist Joan Miro was born in Montroig in the Province of Catalonia, Spain on April 20, 1893. His father was a jeweler and watchmaker, and his mother was a housewife. When he was only 7 years old, he was sent to drawing classes.

Even though Miro’s parents were in favor of his receiving artistic training, they were initially opposed to his choice of art as a career. Being an artist, at that time, was regarded by many as not having a profession at all. And, Miro’s parents’ reaction against their son’s artistic inclinations was a perfectly natural one.

At the age of 14 Miro began to study art at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts. But, Miro’s parents insisted that he study business as well, which he did at the School of Commerce. At the age of 16, and very much against his will, Miro was taken on as an apprentice clerk at a long-established grocer’s shop.

In 1911, when Miro was 18, he became seriously ill. The illness caused him to give up clerking – much to his delight. During his recovery from the illness, he spent time on his family’s property on Montroig. Here he spent all of his time painting and he shared this artwork with his family. Eventually, due to this, his parents resigned themselves to the fact that Joan would pursue a career in art.

In the beginning Miro’s artwork was not well liked. He was heavily influenced by cubism, an art movement where forms are broken up into abstract shapes, but there was also an element of realism in them. Surrealist artists claimed that his work was too real and he was made fun of (some of his art was even damaged), but he never gave up.

Joan Miro married Pilar Juncosa on October 12, 1929. The newlyweds settled in Paris. The couple had one daughter, Dolors, who was born July 17, 1931 in Barcelona. Joan Miro died December 25, 1983 at the age of 90.

Joan Miro

Art in the Classroom North Stratfield School

Featured Artworks People and Dog in Sun (1949)

This painting is a most characteristic example of Miro’s work: It is two-dimensional and flat, painted in bright primary colors. No shadows, no highlights with lines creating simple pictorial figures.

Ask: Does anyone know what Two-Dimensional art is? When art is described as flat, showing only the dimensions of height and width only, and not depth as one would see if there were shadows or highlights

Ask: What do you think a pictorial image is? Pictorial art is a most simplified form of something, typically line art, that removes details. Examples of pictorials might be the handicapped parking sign on a parking spot outside.

Miro would use his pictorial approach consistently. Note how this person and this dog use the same pictorial to represent the eyes and the nose—even though they are different species.

In this Surrealistic distortion, the superimposition of images and metamorphic painting upside down we can see the metamorphosis perfectly, and we

have an equally perfect composition.

In China and Japan, there is a form of art called “Calligraphy.” This is also the name given to Chinese and Japanese writing. Each letter of the alphabet is a kind of abstract design. Can you see how Miro, in this painting, did the same kind of thing with the line? He has used a few lines to create an image of a person or a dog. Then he added abstract shapes of color to fill in part of the images of his people and dogs. This creates a whimsical scene of people doing a very ordinary activity.

Ask: Can you find more than one person and a dog? If you were not told this is a painting of a person and a dog, would you have thought it was?

Ask: What happens if you turn the picture upside down? Look carefully. Does the head of the dog become the head of a new person?

Ask: When the picture is right side up, can you see other figures besides that of the man and dog? What about sideways?

Joan Miro

Art in the Classroom North Stratfield School

Other Works by this Artist

The Sun (1949)

Peacock Feathers (1956)

The Dog Barking at the Moon (1926)

The Dog Barking at the Moon (1952)

Discussion Questions Using the Elements of Art:

You may use this guide to talk about one or more of these paintings.

Shape: Shapes are very obvious in this artist’s work. What different shapes do you see?

Light: Light can be used to show feelings, like color. Is there a light source in any of these paintings? Point it out and tell us where you think is is coming from.

Line: Point out horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines and wavy lines and discuss their meaning. (Horizontal – restful, Vertical- strong, Diagonal-movement, wavy-organic).

Space: Space helps and artist to organize their subjects. Big spaces in between elements can make a subject appear alone just as paintings with little space in between subjects can feel busy and frenzied. What do you see in these paintings?

Color: What do you think of the artists use of color? Where are “cool” or “warm” colors used? Is there a feeling you think the artist is trying to convey to viewers? Yes or no.

Joan Miro

Art in the Classroom North Stratfield School

Sources:

Adapted from The Shorewood Collect Art Reference Guide From Optical Illusions in Art by Alexander Sturgis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Miro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Harlequin%27s_Carnival