Joan Miró i Ferrà (April 20,1893 – December
25,1983) was a world renowned Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and
ceramist who was born in the sea port city of Barcelona.
Miro was
the son of a watchmaking father and a goldsmith mother, he was exposed
to the arts from a very young age. There have been some drawings
recovered by Miro dating to 1901, when he was only 8 years old. Miro
enrolled at the School of Industrial and Fine Arts in Barcelona until
1910; during his attendance he was taught by Modest Urgell and Josep
Pascó.
After overcoming a serious bout of typhoid fever in 1911, Miro
decided to devote his life entirely to painting by attending the school
of art taught by Francesc Galí. He studied at La Lonja School of Fine
Arts in Barcelona, and in 1918 set up his first individual exhibition in
the Dalmau Galleries, in the same city. His works before 1920 (the date
of his first trip to Paris) reflect the influence of different trends,
like the pure and brilliant colors used in Fauvism, shapes taken from
cubism, influences from folkloric Catalan art and Roman frescos from the
churches.
