Transcending boundaries of art: Spanish painter Joan Miró's works come to India for the first time

Two human figures stand next to each other as birds take to the sky where a solitary star makes its presence felt in all its lonesome self. The distinctly-marked boundary between earth and the ethereal is made significant by the blue crescent moon hanging low in Spanish painter Joan Miró’s universe. Standing before the artist’s work, titled ‘Figures and Birds in a Nocturnal Landscape’, at the Embassy of Spain here fills one with awe and agony at the same time; something about the dreamlike landscape speaks of unequivocal yearning for a lost something, someone. [caption id=“attachment_10680411” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  The abstract holds several of Miró’s defining elements that remained constant throughout his career that spanned over five decades.[/caption] The exhibition, Miró’s Universe, organised by the Fundació Joan Miró and the Fundación Abertis at the Spanish embassy features four paintings and a sculpture by the legendary artist. The abstract holds several of Miró’s defining elements that remained constant throughout his career that spanned over five decades. In an interview to Partisan Review in 1948, Miró admitted to having been influenced by one of his art school professors. “Three forms which have become an obsession with me represent the imprint of Urgell: a red circle, the moon and a star.” These signs, borrowed from Modest Urgell, remained present in most of Miró’s productions in one form or another. Even though belonging to the same era as its roommates, the painting stands out in its style and form from the other three paintings in the exhibition, and the gingerly placed sculpture in one corner. It also hints at Miró’s vast creative spectrum that is difficult to be placed under a single -ism of art. None of Miró’s paintings, at least those in the exhibition, can be placed as a product of a single art movement. Succinctly put by the Fundació Joan Miró, the painter “avoided academicism in his constant quest for a pure, global art that could not be classified under any specific movement”. The Miró Universe project immerses one in Joan Miró’s uniquely personal creative process and carries the viewer into the mind and method of one of the most important artists of the 20th century. The exhibition explores the artist’s language of signs through a concise, careful selection of paintings and sculpture from his late period, from the holdings of the Fundació Joan Miró. Two of the paintings in the room also feature another major element in his works that began to prevail from the 1940s onwards. The figure of a woman appears to the viewer in its contrasting colours and broad and confident brushstrokes. With a smudge here and a smudge there, and, of course, the red circle, Miró ’s ‘Woman’ (1978) is a masterclass in transcending the boundaries of abstract and entering the realm of an experimental art movement of its own. The brightly painted ‘Woman’ with her bright, bulging eyes appears menacing as well as a pitiable creature. The artist while painting women in this and several others with similar themes represented concepts such as fertility, reproduction, and sexuality. Apart from these two paintings, the exhibition also showcases the 1978 paintings Femme dans la nuit (Woman at Night), Personnages et oiseaux avec un chien (Characters and Birds with a Dog), which, as well as featuring the artist’s language of signs, show another of the crucial features of his universe; the use of bright colours. [caption id=“attachment_10680331” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Miro’s Personnages et oiseaux avec un chien (Characters and Birds with a Dog) features the artist’s language of signs as well as another of the crucial features of his universe; the use of bright colours.[/caption] “The pure colours respond to Miró’s intention to bring his work as close as possible to people, as well as being a nod towards pop art. They also served to emphasise his language and the symbolism of his representations, whatever artistic medium he used,” said Dolors Rodríguez Roig, curator of the project. The paintings aside, the Miró Universe project also features one of the Catalan artist’s sculptures, titled ‘Sir, Madam’. A yellow egg on a black stool, representing the aforementioned Madam, and a metallic cuboid, the said Sir, perched atop a red stool collectively form the sculpture. The sculpture in its quiet corner at the exhibition invokes the image of an aged couple ruminating in their separate solitude while sharing a common space such as a drawing room. The large circle around the Sir’s eye brings to mind a distinguished gentleman of yore with a monocle to show for it. [caption id=“attachment_10680361” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  The paintings aside, the Miró Universe project also features one of the Catalan artist’s sculptures, titled ‘Sir, Madam’.[/caption] “Miró transformed objects into figures, into living characters, and, as with the rest of his works, gave them poetic titles that provide the viewer with a sense of the artist’s imagination and his quest,” writes Roig in the publication accompanying the exhibition. Even though Miró cast this 1969 work in bronze, he chose to go against the tradition of a visible use of bronze, a metal that was generally admired and preferred, in sculptures. Miró painted this 1969 work with industrial paint in an apparent rebellious response to the establishment and led to anti-sculpture: “Miro changed the traditional perception of sculpture with his visual and poetic play”. The Miró Universe project is presented for the first time to audiences in India. Between 2019 and 2021, the Spanish embassies in Rome, Berlin, Dublin, Brussels and Paris hosted Miró Universe, as well as the Cultural Centre of Spain in Mexico. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.