Rediscovering Joan Miró with the most complete exhibition on the Catalan artist

Barcelona (ACN).- Barcelona has been, together with Palma de Mallorca, the place to better contemplate Joan Miró’s work. However, last Spring London held the most complete exhibition on Joan Miró, an exhibition organised between the Tate Modern and Barcelona’s Fundació Miró (Joan Miró’s Museum in the Catalan Capital). Now, ‘The Ladder of Escape’ will be displayed in Barcelona, after having been one of the successes of the year in the UK capital. The Fundació Joan Miró (Joan Miró’s Foundation) will host the exhibition from October 16^th until March 18^th 2012; the ‘The Ladder of Escape’ will travel to Washington in May 2012 and will be displayed at the National Gallery. This exhibition compiles 170 works from the Catalan artist, coming from museums and private collections from all over the world. It is not only the most complete exhibition on Miró because of the number, variety and geographic origin of the works displayed, but also because of their quality and how they grasp the artist’s life, style, and his commitment. Joan Miró was an artist committed with the era he lived through, as another exhibition in Barcelona will also prove. In parallel to the ‘Ladder of Escape’, the History Museum of Catalonia displays the posters Miró designed throughout his life, such as the famous ‘Aidez l’Espagne’, asking the international community to help the Republican Government during the Spanish Civil War. The exhibition ‘Joan Miró. Poster of a time, of a country’ will be also on display until mid-March 2012.

The most complete exhibition on the Catalan painter Joan Miró organised in the last 20 years in Spain can be seen in Barcelona until March 18^th 2012. ‘Joan Miró: the Ladder of Escape’ (L’escala de l’evasió) is hosted by the Fundació Joan Miró, the museum devoted to the Catalan artist and located at Barcelona Montjuïc Hill. 170 paintings, sculptures and works on paper coming from public and private collections from all over the world. Some of Miró’s highlights can be seen, such as ‘La masia’ (The Farm) (1921-1922), ‘Cap d’un pagès català’ (Head of a Catalan Peasant) (1924-1925), ‘Hort amb ase’ (Field with Donkey) (1918) o ‘Natura morta del sabatot’ (Still Life with Old Shoe) (1937).

The exhibition is jointly organised by the Tate Modern and the Fundació Joan Miró. It is sponsored by the Catalan Government, Barcelona City Council, and the BBVA Foundation. Tate Modern’s curators Matthew Gale, Marko Daniel and Kerryn Greenberg are in charge of it, together with the Fundació Joan Miró’s head curator Teresa Montaner.

Miró’s posters also on show

In parallel to ‘Joan Miró: the Ladder of Escape’ the exhibition ‘Poster of a time, of a coutnry’ takes place at the History Museum of Catalonia. It will show a selection of posters by the Catalan artist produced between 1919 and 1980. They are proof of his involvement in a wide range of cultural, civic and political actions and initiatives. The exhibition analyses Miró’s commitment to his roots, the Catalan culture and rural life, as well as his engagement in the Spanish Civil War defending the Republic. Posters supporting cultural magazines from 1919 or 1936, posters to claim for the Catalan Statute of Autonomy in 1979 or defending the Republican Government in 1937, and posters to support the cultural platform Òmnium Cultural in 1974 promoting and defending the Catalan language during Franco’s regime.