FREE ESSAY ON JOAN MIRO

JOAN MIRO

Working Thesis:
The Catalan struggle and Spanish Civil War greatly influenced Joan Miro 's art; Miro's
techniques of forceful strokes with paint and ceramics enable Miro to express his
feelings and depict the Catalan people's struggle through art.
I. Surrealism in the 1920s
A.) Born into a Catalan culture
B.) Intense nationalist activity
C.) Masia
D.) Clement Greenburg
II. Lack of interest in political matters
A.) Spanish Civil War
B.) Being Catalan
C.) Catalan struggle for freedom
III. Career in art
A.) 1911 enrolled at design school
B.) Frances Gali
C.) 1914 Miro's earliest painting
1.) Paris-1920/changes
2.) The Hunter
IV. Anger in Miros art
A.) Spaces of his art are occupied
B.) New tensions
V. Constellations
A.) Taboos
B.) Death
Working Thesis:
The Catalan struggle and Spanish Civil War greatly influenced Joan Miro's art; Miro's
techniques of forceful strokes with paint and ceramics enable Miro to express his
feelings and depict the Catalan people's struggle through art.
Surrealism in the 1920s was defined as a fantastic arrangement of materials that
influenced Miro, due to the fact that he was one of the most original and sympathetic
artists during the Surrealism periods. Miro was born into the Catalan culture in April
20,1893 in Barcelona, Spain (Munro 288). Having to be born into the Catalan culture gave
Miro an opportunity to have an intense nationalist activity. In which much attention was
paid not only to political expressions of the need for autonomy, but also to the
re-Catalanizing of every day life (Higdon 1).
"It was necessary to fight so that Catalan, our language might be recognized as a
cultural language" ("Miro"). In 1910 Miro's parents bought a masia which is a sort of
traditional farmstead of Catalonia, where the family has its roots on the paternal side.
Miro described the masia in his painting The Farm of 1921-1922 (Figure1). Clement
Greenburg a close friend of Miro who is also a critic, said that Miro's art is based on
ideas "of painting as an irrevocable two dimensional medium" (Munro 289). 
Greenburg also stated "Miro is known for his almost total lack of interest in political
matters" (Munro 289). The only thing that really kept Miro interested was his people and
their culture. What really shot Miro down was the Spanish Civil War, he stated that "I am
not in favor of separatism. I am in favor for Spanish unity, European unity, and World
unity." He believed that they should be able to celebrate their myths, and abide by their
own laws (Higdon 1).
Being Catalan was pretty hard on Miro as well as his people and their culture. For one,
the government tried to shut them out or at least make them in to a Spanish-speaking
country. Yet the Catalans had to push on their struggle for freedom. Miro used his
paintings to show his urge for unity, and wanted his people to have the right to practice
their customs (Munro 288). He was extremely devoted to his people and their aspirations.
He wanted to bring out Catalan traditions as well as their language (Higdon 2).
Miro career in art was sort of brought on by destiny. In 1911 he enrolled at a design art
school, taught by a man named Frances Gali. Gali was extremely strict and
straightforward. His art was basically drawn in the form of a picture. Yet when he saw
Miro's art he realized true potential and realized that Miro's use of paint strokes and
use of two-dimensional shapes were unique.
In 1914 Miro painted a man wearing a Catalan "liberty cap." (Higdon2) After Miro had
completed small amount of his paintings they were brought to Barcelona for their safe
keeping. Such as the Montroig, the Church and the Village (Figure 2), The Farm (Figure
1), Still Life with Old Shoe (Figure 3), and Women in the Night (Figure 4), When Miro
moved to Paris in the 1920s he experienced a wide variety of changes in one year, he had
then moved from "naive" of The Farm to the startlingly spare abstraction of the Hunter.
After his experience with Paris, which only lasted for a couple of months, he went back
to Barcelona until the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1932. Miro began to show his
anger in his art by drawing wild paintings. The spaces left between his artwork were
occupied with monstrous figures, and flesh that are bruised or infected with diseases
(Higdon 3). From these new forms of tensions are savagely animated due to the struggle of
his people as well as the Spanish Civil War.
Miro also enjoyed painting his work to connect like stars to kind of form constellations.
He did this by letting his shapes overlap, and coloring only the flat surfaced areas.
Some people tried to relate his art toward taboo due to his colors representing the
different areas of Spain. Yet in 1977, Miro was asked to design the official poster for
Catalonia (Figure 5). Miro lived to see the success of that campaign and thought it to be
among the greatest rewards of his life (Higdon 5). Miro died in Palma, Majorca, Spain
December 25, 1983.
Bibliography
I. Higdon, Elizabeth. Joan Miro. New York: Rizzoli International, 1993.
II. "Miro, Joan." The Book of Art. New York: Grolier Inc. 1976.101.
III. Miro, Joan. The Farm. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Joan Miro 1921-1922. By Elizabeth Higdon. New York:
Rizzoli International, 1993. Color Plate 1.
IV. Miro, Joan. Montriog, the Church and the Village. 
Private collection. Joan Miro: 1919. By Elizabeth Higdon.
New York: Rizzoli: International, 1993. Color Plate 2.
V. Miro, Joan. Still Life with Old Shoe. The Museum of Modern Art,
New York. Joan Miro: Jan. 24-May 29 1937. By Elizabeth Higdon. 
New York: Rizzoli: International, 1993. Color Plate 9.
VI. Miro, Joan. Women in the Night. Private collection. Joan Miro:1946. 
By Elizabeth Higdon. New York: Rizzoli: International, 1993.
Color Plate12.
VII. Munro, Eleanor C. "Miro, Joan." The Encyclopedia of Art. New York:
Golden Press, 1965. 288, 299.