Fundació Joan Miró
A charismatic Rationalist building that is home to the works of the Catalan artist
The conjunction of two geniuses, the architect Josep Lluís Sert and the artist Joan Miró, resulted in a unique foundation. Integrated into the landscape of Montjuïc Mountain while retaining its own personality stands the Fundació Miró building, a major work of Rationalist architecture that is home to 14,000 pieces by the Catalan artist.
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Why visit the Fundació Miró on Montjuïc Mountain?
Fundació Joan Miró, which opened its doors in 1975, was the first artistic institution in Barcelona created as a result of a collaboration between an artist and an architect. The architect in this case was Josep Lluís Sert, a proponent of architectural rationality and formal purity who was inspired by popular Mediterranean constructions to design an open building in glass and white concrete with large terraces and interior courtyards designed to orient the circulation of visitors. In 1956 Sert had already designed the artist’s studio in Majorca.
The museum is the product of Miró’s desire to open a foundation that would be more than a collection of objects: a space that looks forward to a future in which discovery and debate play an integral part. In Josep Lluís Sert, who was a disciple of Le Corbusier and the Dean of Harvard Graduate School of Design, Miró found a great ally. In fact, the building designed by Sert won the Council of Europe Museum Prize in 1977 and the Twenty-five Year Award in 2002 as it is considered to be the best possible showcase for the artist’s work.
The captivating complex of white volumes designed by Sert integrates into the landscape of Montjuïc to provide a home for more than 14,000 pieces of Joan Miró’s work, including more than 8,000 preparatory sketches.
At the Fundació Miró you can discover the artist’s entire oeuvre, starting with his first paintings, which are clearly influenced by French Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism, such as the "Chapel of Sant Joan d’Horta" and "Portrait of a Young Girl", and then moving on to his fully surrealist period with ("The Bottle of Wine") and his collages, such as "Homage to Prats".
The collection also includes his works on the Civil War, "Man and Woman in front of a Pile of Excrement", and one of the works of the "Constellations" series, painted during the Second World War. The collection was created mainly with the donation made by Joan Miró himself and was expanded with further donations from family members, friends and collectors.
How do you get to Fundació Joan Miró?
The Red Route of Barcelona Bus Turístic has a specific Fundació Joan Miró stop just outside the museum.
For the most curious of you
- Did you know? Joan Miró wanted to give Barcelona a number of works to welcome visitors to the city. For those arriving by air, Miró created the mural at terminal 2 of Barcelona-El Prat airport (1970); those arriving by train are received by the sculpture "Woman and Bird" (1976), in Escorxador Park, near Sants railway station; and those arriving by boat are greeted by the Pla de l’Os mosaic on La Rambla (1983).
- Local’s tip: Next to the Fundació Miró there are some gardens that were the first public park on Montjuïc Mountain. They are the Laribal Gardens and are well worth visiting!
- A must: For admirers of Miró and Sert, lovers of pure architectural forms and the conjunction of architecture and contemporary art.
