Almost 5k visitors to Miró's family home

All art has an origin story – and for celebrated Catalan artist Joan Miró, it all started at his family home – which has received almost 5,000 visitors since its opening. This beautiful sprawling farmhouse was opened in May to coincide with the late artist's 125^th birthday – and is still being renovated. The farmhouse is called Mas Miró, and is located in the village Mont-roig del Camp, just inland of southern beachside Tarragona, where the artist lived in the summer.

The Mas Miró Foundation has additionally stated that expectations have been met, as they foresaw some 20,000 visitors per year. The majority of visitors are locals, but also people from abroad – especially from France. The director of the Foundation, Elena Juncosa, explained that they've even seen cases of "people who come from Barcelona especially to see the landscape that inspired Miró."

For the winter, the facilities will be open for weekends while during weekdays it will offer semi-private visits. Meanwhile, the upcoming renovations set for the interior of the house do not yet have a scheduled date. The cost for this upcoming round of works is set at approximately €20,000. This includes the kitchen, currently closed to the public, and an elevator to facilitate access for those with reduced mobility.

A 1976 calendar on the wall

One of the spaces opened in the first restoration – and, perhaps the most impressive – is the artist's workshop, a space frozen in time. This can be seen by a 1976 calendar on the workshop wall, untouched from when Miró worked in the space last, three years before his death. In fact, visitors can still see painting materials, sketches, and even graffiti on the wall, drawn by Miró himself to help map out his ideas.

Along with the workshop visitors can also see the dining room, Miró’s first workshop, and various bedrooms, among others. The corral has been repurposed as a welcome space, and what was once a hen house now grows ecological crops like watermelons, beans, and broccoli.

“From this triangle, my art was born”

Joan Miró (Barcelona, 1893 - Palma, 1983) was a Catalan sculptor, painter, ceramicist, and more, and one of the 20th century’s most celebrated artists. His work primarily belongs to the surrealism movement – an era in his career conceived at Mas Miró, in fact – focusing on the wanderings and workings of the subconscious mind. Miró’s art in particular also recreated childlike aspects and displayed a certain Catalan pride. Part of his work also revolves around disdain for conventional art forms. 

While Miró eventually moved to the island of Mallorca in 1956, he continued spending summers in the house in southern Catalonia until 1976, just four years before his death. He is quoted as having proclaimed “Mallorca, Barcelona, and Mont-roig configured my personality. From this triangle, my art was born.” Inasmuch, the The Fundació Mas Miró joins other organizations dedicated to the artist, such as the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona and the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Mallorca.