1. Joan Miró, Toile brûlée 2, 1973, Acrylique sur toile découpée et brûlée 130 x 195 cm, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, prêt permanent d’une collection privée Photo: Joan Ramon Bonet © Successió Miró / 2022, ProLitteris, Zurich
Beyond the colours
Until the end of May 2023, the Zentrum Paul Klee present an exhibition dedicated to the last works of the Catalan artist Joan Miró. While the artist his mostly known for his use of bold colours and his picture depicting surrealist dream or strange women, he surprisingly changed his style in the last decades of his life.
After buying a studio and moving to Palma in his new studio, the artist start from scratch to create a new concept into his oeuvre. He revised the whole of his previous œuvre, reworked early pieces or returned to works that had been left incomplete. This is what's currently showcases in the exhibition in Bern with 73 works, mostly from the late 1960s, the 1970s and the early 1980s.
Beyond the age of this man
The artist was 63 years old when he moved his studio to Palma. By the time, the Spanish context changed a lot, between the First and Second World War, the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, his trips to Paris when he was part of the surrealist group and his life in Barcelona and Montroig.
During his entire life, he looked back at his memories in Paris, his meetings with André Masson which lead him to discover the works of Klee. He later quoted: "Klee was the pivotal encounter of my life. Under his influence my painting freed itself from all earthly bonds. Klee made it clear to me that a patch, a spiral, even a dot can be every bit as much an object of painting as a face, a landscape or a monument".
2. Joan Miró au travail dans l'atelier Sert à Palma, env. 1977, Photo: Francesc Català-Roca, © Photographic Archive F. Català-Roca – Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arqui- tectes de Catalunya
During the outbreak of the Spanish civil, Miró was obligated to stay in France between 1936 and 1940. And move again when France was invaded by the German. At the time he moved back to Spain and has a small house and studio in Barcelona and Montroig until the end of the Second World War.
By moving to his large studio, he had the chance to bring all of his works, from his surrealist period, his childhood drawings to his last creation in one unique place. By organising all of his work and looking at his old inspiration, themes and styles, he decides to self examine his work and try to know what to keep.
After this examination, the artist goes back to the conventional easel painting and sought new forms of expression. It was clear that he didn't want to go back to his surrealist period but rather to touch people by using classical mean such as painting with fire, hands, scissors and bold colours. He also experimented with tapestry, collage and painting by overpainted classical paintings he bought at the flea market with impulsive brushstrokes.
Informations about the exhibition
Place: Zentrum Paul Klee
Date: 28.1.2023 – 7.5.2023
Curators: Fabienne Eggelhöfer
Ticket: Available on the website of the Zentrum Paul Klee OR at the front desk of the museum
Informations about the Zentrum Paul Klee
Zentrum Paul Klee
Monument im Fruchtland 3
CH-3001 Bern
Phone: +41 31 359 01 01
Fax: +41 31 359 01 02
Mail: info@zpk.org