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My Oral Presentation

By: Beltrán Laferrère

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His lifeHis parents were Miquel Miró and Dolors Ferrà.He had a sister.

Joan Miró was born in Barcelona, Spain in the year 1893.

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Early steps in art...Very early in his life, Joan demonstrated two things

to his parents: first, that when he wanted something he would not give in; and second, that whenever he got hold of a piece of paper and some coloured pencils he would spend hours and hours drawing pictures and, above all, combining colours.

His father wanted Joan to carry on his jeweller’s trade. Since the boy enjoyed drawing, his father took him to take lessons at some arts and crafts school, so that later he would be able to help him design beautiful pieces of jewellery. Joan was only seven at the time he started drawing lessons at a school nearby his house.

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As he grew up…Joan grew up, and his interest in

everything artistic remained as strong as ever.

His father decided that if Joan was to be successful, he had to attend the School of Commerce, where he would learn the basic things that would help him to defend himself in business.

Also Joan attended the Llotja (the school which all would-be artists went to).

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His father had other plans...When Joan was sixteen, his father forced him to

work as a shop assistant in a drug-warehouse. Joan didn´t like working there, but his father didn’t allow him to resign. He worked there two years, and he was so unhappy that he got very sick with typhus.

His parents, very worried, decided to send him to Montroig to recover, but first they promised him they would never stand in his way again or stop him from becoming an artist. So he must have been quite happy in spite of his illness.

Certainly, this decision did him more good than all the medicines the doctor had prescribed, and he left in a happy mood for that little village in the province of Terragona.

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Joan inspires in nature...A few days after his arrival he felt better

already; he could take walks and wander through the fields, talking to the farmers and enjoying the light. He observed the nice little vegetable gardens, the cows, the donkeys, and all the nature around him.

With great enthusiasm, he began to paint everything around him, and doing what he liked to do, he got better and better and was soon able to return to Barcelona.

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Painting Fields in Terragona

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Studies: Un-conventional educationWhen he returned to Barcelona he

entered a school belonging to a teacher called Francesc Galí. That school was very different from others. The schoolmaster, Mr. Galí, blindfolded him and made him touch an object –a water pitcher, a piece of fruit, a face- and then asked him to draw it. Besides the fun, it taught Miró a lot of things that later proved useful.

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Studies: Conventional educationBesides attending classes at

Galí’s school, he attended classes at the Artistic Circle Saint Luc, where painting was taught in yet another way and where he made friends who helped him understand a great deal.

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ParisHe travelled to Paris and started

painting in the way other artists did and copying the style of the latest tendencies, like representing geometrical figures.

But after a while he started to think that “copying” reality was flat and boring.

And he watched how we start drawing when we are little children.

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Going back to the basics

Look at these faces. Some have simpler lines. Others have lots of details.

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Starting all over again...

Look at these trees. Although some of them do not look alike a real tree, we understand they are trees. Because they all represent a tree.

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The art of Representation So, Joan Miró discovered that it was more

powerful to represent a face than coping exactly a face from real life. It was more interesting to represent a tree that coping it.

And that representation became symbols...

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The use of symbolsAnd those symbols became powerful

and had so much strength that observers reacted to them.

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The use of colourBy simplifying his art, he also simplified

the use of colours. He started using clean bright and plain colours.

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His own studio Miró started selling his art very well and he became a

famous artist. In 1956 his dream came true. He finally settled down in a

studio of his own in the Island of Majorca.

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New materialsThere he continued experimenting with new materials and in bigger formats.

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TapestriesBy touching new materials he experimented with

tapestries. He did a series of huge, gorgeous tapestries.

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CeramicsAs he was also curious about the touch

of soils and clay, he produced wonderful pieces of ceramics.

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SculpturesMiró had great love for his country, so as a present

to his country he made beautiful sculptures that you can actually see in many public places in Spain.

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My favourite painting This is my favourite painting. Have you noticed how

natural it looks? You won’t see complicated

lines and structures or strange colours.

On the contrary, everything is clear and full of light.

The forms are few and simple. His colours are strong and bright: plain blue, red, yellow, black and white.

His paintings transmits happiness and imagination.