Exhibition "Starting Point" by Joan Miró

May 23, 2018 Altmans Gallery opens the exhibition of Joan Miró, dedicated to the 125th birthday of the legendary Catalan artist.

Miro is an artist, sculptor, ceramist and graphic artist whose works are presented in the best museums around the world. Miro drew inspiration from everyday life: in his works, it became like a hitherto unknown world where poetry and dream reign. Joan Miro said: “I need a starting point, whether it’s a speck of dust or a ray of light. This image creates many others, generating in turn all new ones. So, a simple piece of rope can be the impetus for the creation of the whole world. " This bright, world-generating - the “starting point” of Miro is the key to understanding the artist’s creativity, which started from this “point”, pushing him to an unstoppable imagination. It was she - the "starting point" of Joan Miró - who became the motive and source of inspiration for the upcoming exhibition in the international gallery of first names Altmans Gallery.

The exhibition will feature about 30 lithographs of the famous surrealist, which relate to the late period of the artist’s work, starting in the 1960s. It was during this period that Miro continued to test painting and graphic techniques, constantly questioning them in his works.

“I work hard, I’m heading towards the art of concept, using reality as a starting point, but not as a final point,” said Joan Miro.

Miro constantly asked questions and himself searched for answers. Over time, they could change, but we can’t talk about simple repetition. Joan Miró was not only an artist, but also a sculptor, engraver, lithographer, and ceramist. The world of this artist is the world of poetry, born of hard work. Miro always painted with perseverance, paying attention to details, first making sketches, which were later embodied in his canvases.

In 1920, Miro came to Paris, where he met with Pablo Picasso. “At the beginning, Picasso was naturally restrained with me, recently, having seen my work, he became very friendly; many hours of conversations in his workshop, very often… "*

Miro studied at the famous Art School in Barcelona, then entered the private academy of Francisco Gali, where he studied until 1915. After several years of hard work - in 1918 - the Barcelona’s Dalmo Gallery opens its first personal exhibition of the artist, which presented 64 drawings and canvases that left the audience indifferent. In 1920, Miro first visited Paris, where he would then work in a workshop at Rue Blom, 45.

Between 1925 and 1927, Miro completed work on one hundred and thirty paintings. Most of them had no names. “How did I come up with my drawings and ideas for paintings? Well, it happened, I came home, to my studio in Paris, on Rue Blom, at night, went to bed and sometimes did not even have dinner. Visions appeared to me, and I sketched them in a notebook. I saw images on the ceiling… ”- shared Joan Miro.

Empty spaces were of great importance for the artist, it was important to Miro to achieve maximum saturation with minimum effort. Dots, spots, broken and winding lines, the contrast of yellow, green, blue and purple tones - this is how you can describe the results of Miro’s “hungry hallucinations”. The Swiss sculptor, painter and graphic artist Alberto Giacometti shared his impressions of Miro with which he became close during his stay in Paris: “For me, Miro was a symbol of freedom - he personified something more unbridled, free and easy than everything I saw before ".

The Starting Point exhibition at Altmans Gallery will be held from May 23 to June 25 with the support of the Cervantes Institute. The cost of admission is 300 rubles.