Joan Miró Ferra was born on April 20, 1893, in Barcelona. At the age of 14, he went to business school in Barcelona and also attended La Lonja, the academy of fine arts, the same city. Upon completing three years of art studies, he took a position as a clerk. After suffering a nervous breakdown, he abandoned business and resumed his art studies, attending Francesc Galí’s Escola d’Art in Barcelona from 1912 to 1915. In 1917, he met Francis Picabia and the following year, the dealer José Dalmau gave him his first solo show at his gallery in Barcelona.
n 1920, Miró made his first trip to Paris, where he met Pablo Picasso. From this time, Miró divided his time between Paris and Montroig, Spain. In Paris, he associated with the poets Max Jacob, Pierre Reverdy, and Tristan Tzara and participated in Dada activities. Dalmau organized Miró’s first solo show in Paris, at the Galerie La Licorne in 1921. His work was included in the Salon d’Automne of 1923. In 1924, Miró joined the Surrealist group. His solo show at the Galerie Pierre, Paris, in 1925 was a major Surrealist event; Miró was included in the first Surrealist exhibition at the Galerie Pierre that same year. He visited the Netherlands in 1928 and began a series of paintings inspired by Dutch masters. That year he also executed his first papiers collés and collages. In 1929, he started his experiments in lithography, and his first etchings date from 1933. During the early 1930s, he made Surrealist sculptures incorporating painted stones and found objects. In 1936, Miró left Spain because of the civil war; he returned in 1941.
Miró’s first major museum retrospective was held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1941. That year, Miró began working in ceramics with Josep Lloréns y Artigas and started to concentrate on prints; from 1954 to 1958, he worked almost exclusively in these two mediums. In 1958, Miró was given a Guggenheim International Award for his murals for the UNESCO building in Paris. The following year, he resumed painting, initiating a series of mural-sized canvases. During the 1960s, he began to work intensively in sculpture. Miró retrospective took place at the Grand Palais, Paris, in 1974. In 1978, the Musée National d’Art Moderne exhibited over 500 works in a major retrospective of his drawings. Miró died on December 25, 1983, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Biography from Guggenheim Museums
Note: All works © 2025 Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
This is part 12 of a 13-part series on the works of Joan Miró:
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| 1973 Woman bird I acrylic on canvas 376 x 95 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1973 Woman bird III acrylic on canvas 261 x 65 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1973 Women, birds acrylic on canvas 162 x 130 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1973 Woman, bird oil on cardboard 64 x 80 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1973 Woman, birds oil on cardboard 80 x 65 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1973 Woman, birds acrylic, oil and wax crayon on tarpaulin 302 x 25.7 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1973 Woman with 3 hairs, birds and constellations acrylic on canvas 194 x 372.7 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1973 Woman in the night acrylic on canvas 195 x 130 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Classical ballet oil on "pompier"-style canvas 58.5 x 108.5 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Bird acrylic on sackcloth 8.5 x 12.5 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Bird acrylic on canvas, nail, string, gloves and pin 260 x 185 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Figure, birds acrylic on canvas 130 x 97 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Figure oil on cardboard 32 x 33 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Figure in the night acrylic & oil on canvas 73 x 92 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Figure acrylic and oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Fireworks I acrylic on canvas 292 x 195 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Fireworks II acrylic on canvas 292 x 195 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Fireworks III acrylic on canvas 292 x 195 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Hands flying off toward the Constellations acrylic on canvas 260 x 681 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Head, bird oil and acrylic on canvas 55.5 x 39.5 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Head acrylic on canvas 73 x 60 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Head acrylic on canvas 65 x 50 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Head acrylic on canvas 61 x 38 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Head acrylic & oil on canvas 73 x 54 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
1974 Hope of a Condemned Man triptych:
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| 1974 Hope of a Condemned Man oil on canvas 267 x 351 cm Joan Miró Foundation, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Hope of a Condemned Man I |
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| 1974 Hope of a Condemned Man II |
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| 1974 Hope of a Condemned Man III |
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| 1974 The eye Attracts diamonds umbrella, partially painted wood, wire, paper, and plastic and cloth flowers 182.2 x 120 x 62.9 excluding umbrella MoMA New York |
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| 1974 Poem oil on canvas 130 x 97 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Woman acrylic and oil on sackcloth 29 x 22 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
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| 1974 Woman acrylic and oil on canvas 146 x 114 cm Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain |
1974 The Grotesque Courtier:
An illustrated book with sixteen etching and aquatints, nine with drypoint (including wrapper front).
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| Wrapper front etching, aquatint, and drypoint 44.2 x 32.4 cm |
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| folios 4 & 5 etching, aquatint, and drypoint 42 x 58.1 cm |
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| folios 7 & 10 etching & aquatint 42.2 x 58.5 cm |
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| folios 12 & 13 etching, aquatint, and drypoint 42.7 x 59.1 cm |
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| folios 15 & 18 etching & drypoint 42.1 x 58.2 cm |
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| folios 20 & 21 etching, aquatint, and drypoint 42.3 x 58.9 cm |
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| folios 23 & 26 etching and aquatint 41.9 x 58.5 cm |
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| folios 28 & 29 etching, aquatint, and drypoint 42.5 x 59 cm |
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| folios 31 & 34 etching & aquatint 42.3 x 58.5 cm |
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| folios 36 & 37 etching, aquatint, and drypoint 42,6 x 59 cm |
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| folios 39 & 42 etching & aquatint 41.5 x 58.5 cm |
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| folios 44 & 45 etching, aquatint, and drypoint 42.5 x 59 cm |
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| folios 47 & 50 etching & aquatint 42 x 58 cm |
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| folios 52 & 53 etching, aquatint, and drypoint 42.1 x 59 cm |
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| folios 55 & 58 etching, aquatint, and drypoint 42.5 x 58.8 cm |
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| folios 60 & 61 etching & aquatint 42.3 x 58.5 cm |
