Chocolate exhibition inspired by Catalan artist Joan Miró opens in Barcelona 

Art that is good enough to eat.  

That's what greets visitors to Barcelona's Chocolate Museum, especially at the new exhibition showcasing works inspired by Catalan artist Joan Miró. 

'Art/sania' is the name of the project created by French master chocolatier Stéphane Leroux, who drew inspiration from Miró's abstract and at times surrealist style to craft nine unique confectionary sculptures, made using almost 100 kg of chocolate. 

"I really like the pieces that are very representative of the Miró universe, especially the color and the graphic style," he told Catalan News at the launch of the exhibition on Friday. 

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Miró's death, and a joint Miró-Picasso exhibition is currently on in Barcelona's Joan Miró Foundation and Picasso Museum. 

In fact, Leroux originally created these pieces for a private function at the Fundació Joan Miró, drawing inspiration from various works, including one of the artist's most famous sculptures, on display in Barcelona. 

"I really like 'Woman and Bird' because it is a work of Miró's here," Leroux says. The original on which he based this chocolate piece can be seen in the city's Parc Joan Miró. 

Spontaneity and expression 

The chocolatier says he was drawn to Miró's spontaneity and expression, but there were challenges recreating this in chocolate form. 

The process involved making molds out of various materials, in an intense period of four days and four nights, before chocolate is carefully heated and cooled until it is the perfect consistency to create the final product. 

One piece he admits caused "a lot of difficulty" was his representation of Miró's 'Constellation' series. 

Leroux worked on an "adapted idea," rethinking the series to create "something more figurative and simpler." 

Ephemeral works 

Although the pieces are displayed in a museum temporarily, Leroux never loses sight of the ephemeral nature of his medium. 

"Chocolate was made to eat, to consume," he says.  

"The works I make are to be photographed, because I am interested in immortalizing the work that I do, and it's really ephemeral." 

And what happens when these chocolate figures pass their best before date? Leroux melts them down and reuses them for his next exhibition, "because, after all, it is a raw material that costs money and we can recycle," he says. 

'Art/sania' can be seen at the Chocolate Museum of Barcelona until March 17, 2024. The exhibition is in collaboration with the Belgian chocolate brand Belcolade.