Fundació Joan Miró presents Miró and the United States, an exhibition created to mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation, aiming to establish an international dialogue between Joan Miró and his contemporaries.
Miró first traveled to the United States in 1947, a highly significant journey that marked the beginning of his contact with American art. He later returned six more times until 1968. The exhibition can be divided into two parts: one focusing on the period before his first trip and another from that moment onward. Nevertheless, there had already been twenty years during which Miró had been building his reputation.
The exhibition features more than 130 works by 49 different artists, including Miró himself and many others, 19 of whom are women. The works come from American and European collections, as well as from the Fundació Joan Miró’s own collection. Many of them have never been shown before in Barcelona, and some have never even been exhibited in Europe.
The exhibition constructs a complex narrative that highlights the various interactions Miró had with his contemporaries working in the United States.
After the Second World War, the United States was by far the richest country in the world, becoming a place of creativity and endless opportunities—an ideal context for any artist.
The 1960s was the decade in which Miró traveled most frequently to the United States and carried out extraordinary projects. He also achieved one of his ambitions: bringing contemporary art to the widest possible audience. He accomplished this through various institutions and cities across the United States, something that was not possible in the European context at the time.
Barnett Newman stated: “Miró was at the beginning of a new language.”
The new language Newman referred to was Abstract Expressionism. European artists traveled to the United States but later returned to their countries of origin. At that moment, a new starting point in American art emerged, and Miró is considered part of that development.
This exhibition seeks to help audiences understand Miró’s legacy, as well as the place his work occupies in art history and the core of his artistic evolution: the United States. Miró and his contemporaries enriched one another through mutual respect and curiosity about how others represent the world. Joan Miró inspired his peers through his continuous work and his unwavering commitment to his own vision.
