Spanish, 1893-1983.

Joan Miró i Ferrà (/mɪˈroʊ/ mi-ROH, US also /miːˈroʊ/ mee-ROH) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona in 1975, and another, the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró, was established in his adoptive city of Palma in 1981.

Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism but with a personal style, sometimes also veering into Fauvism and Expressionism. He was notable for his interest in the unconscious or the subconscious mind, reflected in his re-creation of the childlike. His difficult-to-classify works also had a manifestation of Catalan pride. In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods as a way of supporting bourgeois society, and declared an “assassination of painting” in favor of upsetting the visual elements of established painting.

Joan Miró was also a pioneer of automatism: a method of spontaneous drawing that attempted to express the inner workings of the human psyche. Miró used color and form in a symbolic manner, developing intricate compositions and a wandering linear style that combined abstract elements with recurring motifs such as birds, eyes, and the moon.  Today, Miró’s work—which has sold for eight figures at auction—can be found in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art, among other institutions. His public sculptures and murals are installed in cities around the world, including Milan, Paris, and Barcelona.