Joan Miró

Joan Miró was a key figure in the abstraction movement of the 20th century. Born in Barcelona, Spain in 1893, Miró had a long, productive career working nearly up to his death at 90. He first worked as an accountant but abandoned that field to pursue his passion for painting, drawing, and sculpture in Paris. During World War II, he fled Nazi-occupied France and returned to Spain. While he mostly remained apolitical, witnessing atrocities of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s socialist regime became evident in some of his paintings, including The Hope of a Condemned Man. Artistically, he was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, and Pablo Picasso. He gave energy and movement to his work by using bold color and fine lines on stark backgrounds, always incorporating a trio of motifs: women, birds, and stars. Miró said, “For me, a painting must give off sparks. It must dazzle like the beauty of a woman or a poem.”