Joan Miró

Joan Miró, I have always admired your art work and unique style. I am a learning artist myself and, if you don't mind I have a few questions I hope to discuss with you?

Of course. I'd love to talk.

Thank you.

What events in your early life made you interested in the arts?

I grew up in Barcelona, Spain during the late 19th century and early 20th century, and this country was very beautiful. Around the ages of 8 and 13 I would make very detailed drawings of nature and rural scenes. I very much enjoyed making extremely detailed sketches of flowers, fish, and the churches and houses in my village. This was all before I had had any artistic training, but I was already very skilled and meticulous in every artwork I made.

When it came to schooling, I was not the most brilliant in the little school in Calle Regomir, where I began to study at the age of seven. My classmates humiliated me, and I was very bored with classes, except the drawing classes I took, which I attended religiously. I was so pleased when my family finally allowed me to register in a private art school in 1912 at the age of 19. I made my first friends here, and I was able to draw from life and participate in very interesting discussions. I learned so much about art in my early years in Barcelona, studying on my own, and in art school (Diehl, 1979).

Did you have any mentors who helped you develop an interest in the arts or who inspired you?

Yes, of course I did. All artists have at least one person who encourages them, or who they look up to and admire. For me, this means the many artists I worked with when I was a young man, such as Francisco Galí. Galí was the founder of the art school I attended, and he helped me develop many artistic skills, and taught me to appreciate modern art, from Van Gogh to the Cubists. Also the other students I worked with, many of whom encouraged me to explore different styles and mediums.

I was also inspired by the styles Surrealism and Dada, and the founder of Surrealism, André Breton. These styles greatly influenced my work and my own artistic style. I enjoyed the work of other types of artists also, such as poets, painters, and film makers, including Reverdy, Apollinaire, and Miguel Hernández. They're work was an evident influence in many of my own paintings. I was intrigued by many artists and so I studied their art and styles and built my own interest of art and style from them.

What was the world of art like when you entered it?

Around the early 1920's was when I entered the art world. During that time two art movements, Surrealism and Art Deco were developing. Surrealist artists were developing new art techniques, such as automatic drawing and painting. Art Deco affected architecture and used new materials in the art. A few characteristic materials were aluminium, stainless steal, and zebra and shark skin.

In the 1920's people were beginning to recognise photography as a form of art. Some photographs were used as advertisements. Although companies still mainly relied on artists to create advertisements for them. That's what many artists were doing for jobs at this time, being commissioned to make art work to promote companies' products. (1920's Art, 2005)

How did major political situations of the time impact your work?

The relationship between Barcelona and France became much closer due to the war, and this allowed for more exchanges of art to different galleries between countries. Around 1918 I was promised an exhibition by a gallery manager, Joseph Dalmau, so I eagerly assembled a number of paintings. During Franco's fascist reign in Spain many people were murdered and many others were forced to flee the country. I left Spain to escape prosecution. The oppression from the government had direct influence on my surrealist origins as a painter, especially since the Catalan ethnicity was subject to special prosecution by the Franco regime.

I was not a deeply involved in politics as an artist, and was not particularly interested in portraying political themes in my work. But I did make a few pieces of art in response to the Spanish Civil War. I continued to make art through World War II. Because of the war my family and I were forced to change our locations frequently. Each new place, from Paris to Palma, to Montroig, affected the art work I made. Eventually I returned to Barcelona after 1942, and immersed myself in drawings, paintings, and pastels.

(Miró, 1937)

(Help Spain, 1937.)

How did cultural situations of the time impact your work?

Barcelona in the 1920s and 30s was known as the most radical and bloody place in Europe, due to riots and the Spanish Civil War. At the end of the war in 1936 many of the inhabitants of Barcelona fled to France. I was one of the thousands of exiles. I left the country where I had first been inspired by the beautiful land and moved to Paris, a city full of art and galleries. My work was exhibited in several exhibitions.

During this time the Surrealism movement was effecting artists throughout Spain. So many artists were joining this movement and I was also encouraged to join. But I chose to reject membership to any artistic movement at the time, I preferred my own style of art. This way I was free to experiment with my own personal style. Although André Breton, the founder of Surrealism, described me as "the most Surrealist of us all." (Diehl, 1979) I refused to be part of the movement.

What personal choices did you have to make to become a successful artist?

A choice artists make is how they choose to look at the world around them. This can have so much influence on the way they work, and resulting, they're success. For me an object is something living. This cigarette or this box of matches contains a secret life much more intense than that of certain human beings (Miró). That is how I look at the things around me.

Another choice I made was to travel all over the world. From my homeland of Spain, to France and America. Travelling to all these places helped me explore my self and my soul more, and create deeper art work. By exploring these many different cities I was also given opportunities to exhibit my work, and to study at different collages and art schools. I was asked by several organisations and important people to create works for them to display in public, such as my tapestry which was displayed in the World Trade Center in New York City.

(Miró, 1968)

(Hand Catching Bird, 1968.)

Art is a very difficult profession, what kinds of hardships did you face in becoming an artist?

The art world is very difficult, and extremely competitive. Some of my best friends in art school were also very big competition for me! All artists face hardships in our work. At first my family did not want to send me to art school. My father wished that I work as a book keeper in a local drugstore (Diehl, 1979). But after a few years I was finally permitted to go.

Another great hardship for me was the wars. I was affected by both World Wars, especially World War II, which was going on when I was a young man, and the Spanish Civil War. I was forced to leave my home and I was exiled to France. I was very at ease in my native village in Spain, and when I was forced to move to France it was harder for me to work. My studio was uncomfortable and unfamiliar to me, and I was unable to work there.

What were your major accomplishments in the methods you used in your art?

I am very accomplished in the Surrealist style of art. Another Surrealist artist said about me once that I was "the most Surrealist of us all." Many people refer to my style as Surrealist, but I prefer to think of my style as 'experimental'. My style is simple shapes with bold lines and bright colors. My characters have undergone the same process of simplification as the colors. Now that they have been simplified, they appear more human and alive than if they had been represented in all their details (Rosenblum, Ianson, 1984).

In my experimental style I created many works of art. Many of them in different mediums. I made ceramics, window paintings, tapestries, and site-specific installations- murals and sculptures. I was given a few very prestigious awards for my work. The most exciting for me to receive was the Gold Medal of Fine Arts from King Juan Carlos of Spain in 1980 (Doyle).

(Miró, 1928)

Dutch Interior I, 1928.

What kind of limitations did you run into as an artist?

Surrealism and other art movements were not really limitations, but they were challenges. I did not join these movements because I wanted to be free to pursue my experimental style, and also explore these styles (Diehl, 1979). Cubism was also a challenge. I did not like the conservative type of art, that was used to advocate the upper class among the wealthy and middle-class.

A limitation I faced a few times was the limits on mediums I could possibly use. I experimented with some ideas of new ways to make art. Some of them were very unusual and seem impossible. Some of my ideas were four-dimensional painting and gas sculptures. I wasn't able to make these theories real art, but I hope someday somebody will use my ideas and create extraordinary new types of art.

What personal stories best illustrate how you became an artists?

When I was a young man, a few years before I went to study at an art school, I had bad health for a few years. I was unhappy with my current job as a bookkeeper for Dalmau & Oliveras drugstore. But it was a job that made my father happy, so I kept this job. I really wished to study painting and attend an art college, and my soul rebelled against me for not pursuing my dream.

After two years of working as bookkeeper, I began to suffer from nervous depression. This was not good for my health and left me vulnerable to illness. Due to my weak immune system, I caught the typhoid fever. (Diehl, 1979) Typhoid fever is life threatening, and I am lucky to have survived. (CDC, 2010) After my illness had passed, I decided not to waste my time with a job I disliked and convinced my family to allow me to attend Fransico Galí's art school.

Mr. Miró, thank you for your time. I know you are a busy man. I appreciate you taking time from your art to talk with me.

My pleasure!