Joan Miró Foundation

Joan Miró Foundation is an art center of key importance, the main home of the artist, with more than 14,000 exhibits. It came about as the result of the drive of private individuals, with the architect Josep Lluís Sert as the main catalyst, who brought together diverse notable citizens from Barcelona to convince the City Council giving a prime piece of land in Montjuïc, to build a permanent museum dedicated to the works of Joan Miró.

Josep Lluís Sert took charge of the museum project, designing a rationalist building, international example and case study for all architecture lovers around the world. This is an open structure, which blends seamlessly with its natural setting and achieves a perfect balance between architecture and landscape, and that annually receives about a million visitors. It is laid out in different sections around a central courtyard, which hosts summer music concerts, and is planted with olive and carob trees, traditionally Mediterranean. All the building is an oasis of calm and tranquillity, standing on a terrace that boasts spectacular views of Barcelona.

Joan Miró was a complete artist, who cultivated several disciplines. Proof of this is the collection of the foundation, with 217 paintings, 178 sculptures, some 8,000 drawings, textile and pottery pieces, posters and even some essays and hundreds of documents. The collection invites to follow in every detail the career of the Catalan artist, from his first pieces during his early years in Barcelona until his last creative period; the creations from his stay in Paris during the 1920s, the influence of surrealism, and his involvement in the wars of the 20th century. Thus, by works such as The bottle of wine (1924), The smile of a tear (1974) and The Foundation tapestry (1979) we can enjoy all the creativity of Miró.

Although Miró's works are spread all throughout the city of Barcelona, with masterpieces as the large Mural of the airport in Terminal 2, the sculpture Woman and bird in the Escorxador Park or the mosaic Plain of Bone in Las Ramblas, it is only by visiting the Foundation when you can best understand the genius of this artist.