Fifty years of Miró
“ The inauguration of the Center for Contemporary Art Studies, at seven o'clock yesterday evening, was the best tribute an artist could receive from his country. Not only did dealers and directors of art galleries and museums descend on Montjuïc Mountain. Among the numerous attendees—a thousand, two thousand?—who spent hours fearfully wandering through Josep Lluí Sert's galleries for the first time, there was a rather notable representation of Catalan art and literature. It was a celebration full of optimism, color, and ingenuity, three constants in Joan Miró's work. […] The event was neither official nor ceremonial, but simply a presence. The presence of Tàpies, Brossa, Salvat, Capmany, Cirici, Chillida, Portabella, Bohigas. And the absence, it must be said, of the Plaza Sant Jaume […]. ”
Joaquim Gomis Fund, deposited in the National Archive of Catalonia. © Hereus by Joaquim Gomis. Joan Miró Foundation.
With these words, Lluís Bonada, a journalist from the Diario de Barcelona, described the opening ceremony of the main cultural space of reference in the city of Barcelona at that time. Prominent figures who promoted modernity in Catalonia contributed to this event, with a special emphasis on Joan Prats, who was key to the creation of the Centre for Contemporary Art Studies (CEAC), the result of the shared desire of Joan Miró, Josep Lluís Sert and the Club 49 group to create a progressive and international cultural space in Barcelona.
Exhibition of the 50th anniversary of Miró.
2025 will be a busy year for the Joan Miró Foundation, coinciding with the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration of its emblematic building on Montjuïc, built by the rationalist architect Josep Lluís Sert, together with the artist Joan Miró. The commemoration began yesterday, June 10th—a date that coincides with the inauguration of the museum fifty years ago—with the exhibition Poetry Has Barely Begun. 50 Years of Miró . Curated by Blanca Arias, Martina Millà and Ramon Balcells, the exhibition is structured around four thematic areas: key moments in the history of the foundation, the first years of operation of the CEAC until Miró's death in 1983, the transformation of the foundation since the 1980s and, finally, the tribute to the artists who have been part of the institution's recent history. Complemented by three dedicated spaces with infographics dedicated to the history of the foundation and its artists, an audiovisual installation featuring previous temporary exhibitions, and an experimental laboratory with materials collected for the occasion, the exhibition is structured as a beautiful ars combinatoria that embraces art, architecture, and landscape, the main foundations in the conception of the architectural project.
Joan Miró not only considered himself a free man guided by the pure spirit, but also considered his art a fruit of this spirit, which resided within him as a concrete and real essence. This essentiality is also the focus of this curatorial team, which embraces the memory of a legacy to look to the future, always under the star of the great creator.
Exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of Miró's work: 'Poetry has just begun. 50 years of Miró'.
