Joan Miro Exhibition Logo By Denver Art Museum

7 Fun Facts about Miró

Joan Miró: Instinct & Imagination closed June 28, 2015. The exhibition included 50 paintings and sculptures that are on loan from the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain. Below are a few fun facts we culled in celebration of the exhibition:

  1. He was in his seventies and eighties when he created the paintings and sculptures on view. At 82 he started painting with his finger. You can watch a video of him at work in his studio in the exhibition.
  2. People love the exhibition! The Denver Post says, "Joan Miró: Instinct & Imagination is an exuberant firecracker of an exhibit, full of spark and energy, and bursting with refined ideas.”
  3. Miró was incredibly prolific. He produced approximately 2,000 paintings, 500 sculptures, 400 ceramics, 5,000 drawings, and 1,000 lithographs.
  4. He was friends with Pablo Picasso; introduced via their mothers.
  5. Miró’s work is filled with symbols, including women, birds, and stars. He once remarked, “For me a form is never something abstract; it is always a sign of something. It is always a man, a bird, or something else.” (Read more quotes.)
  6. Many of the sculptures are made with items he found along the beach. (As shown in the above photo.)
  7. In later life, he believed he was making art for the future. He once said, “It’s the young people who interest me, and not the old dodos. If I go on working, it’s for the year 2000, and for the people of tomorrow.” (The people of tomorrow. That’s us.)