.Miró - from 1950 to 1970

Miró's body of work is so vast that I'm presenting it in several articles. Here I'm offering, chronologically, my favorites among his creations between 1950 and 1970.

1952

"The Red Disk Chases the Lark," 1953. The poetry Miró imbued in his works attests to his friendship with Jacques Prévert. This is truly the universe I love.

1956

Stencil from 1956, it adorned the "XXe Siècle" magazine published in Paris by Gualtieri di San Lazzaro.

"Black Child Plate," ceramic, 1956.

1956

Frankly, one is always surprised by Joan Miró and this woodcut, "A toutes Épreuves" from 1958.

"Morning Rain in Moonlight," 1958.

"A toute épreuve", engravings by Joan Miró, based on a text by Paul Eluard, 1958.

1963

Miró was drawn to all techniques. A genius of engraving, but also a tireless creator in ceramics, with his friend Pepito Artigas. Cover plate for DU magazine, 1963.

1965

"Red Circle, Star"

"The Prophet, the Night"

1966

1967

Miró was like my favorite "uncle" to me. Always attentive and benevolent. I never let go of him! I'm 7 years old in this photo, and we are at the Maeght Foundation, where Duke Ellington came one afternoon.

We listened to his piano improvisation accompanied by his musicians. There was no audience, just us, the family. Every year, Miró spent several months at my grandparents' house. So that he could work, as he couldn't live without it, Grandpa built a beautiful engraving workshop. From there, some of his most beautiful engravings would emerge. Miró loved this closeness to nature; he wanted to see if his works "resisted" this beauty.

1968

Catalog of the Joan Miró exhibition at the Maeght Foundation in 1968, with the cover, of course, designed by the artist as an original lithograph. The Maeght Foundation holds 275 of Miró's works, including 8 large paintings, 160 sculptures, 73 watercolors, gouaches, and drawings on paper, a monumental tapestry, an important stained-glass window integrated into the architecture, 28 ceramics, as well as monumental works created especially for the garden-labyrinth. In addition to these are hundreds of engravings, lithographs, and bibliophile works enhanced with drawings and prints. All these masterpieces were donated to the foundation jointly by Joan Miró and my grandparents. It is thanks to their unparalleled generosity that such a fabulous heritage has been built, unique in France, a privileged place to better share Joan Miró's dreams.
In 1968, four years after the opening of the Maeght Foundation, my grandfather entrusted Joan Miró with the entire exhibition space to celebrate the artist's 75th birthday. Miró is there, relaxed despite the stakes, in a polo shirt, at the center, surrounded by journalists curious about contemporary art. One must imagine what this represented at the time—finally, large walls, spaces for his immense sculptures or ceramics, like those on the right here, because the Centre Pompidou did not yet exist—it would open in 1977, 13 years after the Maeght Foundation, which served as its model. Indeed, the Foundation is: A permanent collection, temporary exhibitions, a library, artists' studios, integrated music with the Nuits de la Fondation, and, above all, a contemporary building designed specifically for art (the first in France; previously, existing places were used or rehabilitated, such as Jeu de Paume, Palais de Tokyo, Orangerie…)

"Woman and Birds," 1968. I've always been fascinated by Miró's audacity, who, like here, at 75 years old, dared to tackle a 2m high canvas. He had an extreme mental strength.

Joan Miró by his friend Francesc Catala-Roca, 1968. Joan Miró in all simplicity in the courtyard of the Maeght Foundation, next to one of his sculptures.

1969

 

The book La Saga Maeght by Yoyo Maeght, with a dedication. Link here