Joan Miró (1893 to 1983) was a Catalan painter, sculptor and printmaker known for playful, dreamlike imagery. Born in Barcelona, he studied art locally and kept a strong link to the countryside at Mont Roig, which often shaped his work. In 1920 he moved to Paris, where he met writers and artists linked to Surrealism. He shared their interest in the unconscious and chance, but followed his own path.
Miró developed a set of floating signs and simple shapes, including stars, moons, eyes, birds and ladders, set against fields of vivid colour. Works such as The Farm (1921 to 1922), Harlequin’s Carnival (1924 to 1925) and the later Constellationsseries show his mix of precision and spontaneity. He worked across many materials, from ceramics with Josep Llorens Artigas to large murals, prints and bronze sculpture, and he created the triptych Blue I, Blue II, Blue III (1961).
Although he spent long periods in France, Miró worked regularly in Spain and later set up a studio in Palma de Mallorca. Two foundations, the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona and the Fundació Miró Mallorca, preserve his legacy. His light touch and poetic symbols influenced generations of artists, from Abstract Expressionists to contemporary painters, and his work still bridges the real world and the world of imagination.