Joan Miro

(April 20, 1893 – December 25, 1983)

Joan Miro was a Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramist born in Barelona, Spain. Joan was born as the son of a goldsmith and jewelry maker in Barcelona in Northern Spain. He studied arts at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts. His parents wanted him to have a serious job as a businessman. He even took business classes in 1907 with his art classes. Joan worked as an accountant for nearly two years until he had a nervous breakdown. His parents finally accepted their son's choice of a career as an artist. Miro was drawn towards the arts community in 1920 and moved to Paris. He developed a unique style painting organic forms, floating planes and heavy black lines. Influenced by the surrealistic movement, Miro wished to abandon conventional methods of painting in favor of more contemporary ways of expression. Miro married Pilar Juncosa in 1929 and had a daughter two years later. In addition to painting, he worked in different media producing hundreds of ceramics, including the Wall of the Moon and Wall of the Sun at the UNESCO building in Paris. In 1983, Miro suffered from heart disease and died.

McGaugh Interpretation