Joana Miróa is famous for her playful and vividly colored paintings

Woman and Bird (Barcelona, 1983)

Madrid/Prague – The playful, expressive, and vibrant paintings of Joan Miró have enchanted people with their kindness and originality. One of the most famous Spanish painters, allegedly "the most surreal of all surrealists," passed away 40 years ago on December 25, 1983.

Also a graphic artist and sculptor, Miró was born on April 20, 1893, in Barcelona, Catalonia, in the family of a goldsmith, whose name means "he saw" in Spanish. He began painting under the influence of the impressions from Vincent van Gogh's paintings and was soon lured to Paris, where he met Picasso and quickly relocated. Intellectuals, poets, and artists from the surrealist circle gathered in his studio. The silent Catalan painter, with a passion for colors, was called "the most surreal of all surrealists" by the French poet André Breton.

From 1922 to 1923, Miró painted canvases full of childlike naive charm. Later, he began to emphasize a shorthand hieroglyphic drawing style. He also created sculptures, tapestries, ceramic works, collages, and plastic works. The playful creativity in his works stemmed from an innate affinity for creators from the African forest or from the Indian prairie and for cave painting artists. "Painting has been in decline since the days of caves," he jokingly told his friends. Using increasingly simpler artistic signs, he humorously depicted both people and animals. He passionately loved vibrant colors, which made his works unique. By using only a few basic tones—blue, red, yellow, green, and black—he achieved lyrical coloration. He worked with them sparingly but with unfailing precision.

In 1929, he married Pilar Juncos in Palma de Mallorca. When he had to leave France in 1940, he lived in his native Catalonia. After the war, he briefly worked in the USA and, after returning to Europe, alternated his time between Paris and Barcelona. In the mid-1950s, he permanently relocated to Mallorca, where he created monumental canvases, ceramics, and sculptures until his death.

Joan Miró was a quiet person who, despite his fame and success, remained in the background, modestly, discreetly, imperceptibly, and rarely revealed anything from his inner self: "The spectacle of the sky amazes me. I am astonished by what I see – the immense sky, the crescent moon, or the sun. Like in my paintings – tiny shapes in vast open spaces. Open spaces, open horizons, open plains – everything that is revealed has always had a great impact on me," he confessed once.

Joan Miró: Constellations (1959)