Fundació Joan Miró - Parc de Montjuïc, Barcelona

Did you see the two paintings? Which one did you prefer? Can you say why?

Self-Portrait. 1937/38-1960
Oil and pencil on canvas
146.5 x 97 cm.
Permanent loan. Maria Dolores Miro'		 Portrait of a Young Girl. 1919
Oil on paper
34.8 x 27 cm.
Gift of Joan Prats
  • I prefer the first one, the "Self Portrait" because there is more freedom and imagination. (Emanuele S., 13)
  • The first one, because it's strange (Eleonora R., 11)
  • Il primo perché mi esprimeva qualcosa di più del secondo (visto dal vivo). (Lorenza C., 11)
  • I prefer the "Portrait of a Young Girl" because it's beautiful (Eleonora A., 11)
  • I like the second one as she is "muy bonita". (Rita S., 11)
  • I prefer the young girls because it's the reality (Erika D., 13)

Collection of works by Joan Miró
Miró's works are to be found today in the world's principal museums and cultural institutions. Many, however, have remained in Catalonia, mostly in the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona.
The Foundation's collection consists of 11,000 pieces: 240 paintings, 175 sculptures, 9 textiles, 4 ceramics, the almost complete graphic works, and around 8,000 drawings. Most of these pieces were donated to the Foundation by Miró himself.

His life
1893 - 20 April: Birth of Joan Miró i Ferrá at 9.00 p.m. at number 4 Passatge del Crèdit, Barcelona.
1910 - Works as an accounts clerk at Dalmau i Oliveres drugstore in Barcelona. Participates for the first time at an exhibition of old and modern portraits and drawings organised by the City Council.
1912 - Decides to devote himself entirely to painting and enrols in the school of art.
1920 - Travels to Paris for the first time. Visits Picasso in his studio. Lives and works in Paris.
1939 - Leaves Paris in the summer and rents a house in Varengeville-sur-Mer, Normandy, where the family remains until 1940 when the Germans bomb Normandy and Miró decides to return to Spain with his family, where they settle in Palma (Majorca).
1947 - First trip to the United States, where he produces a mural painting.
1968 - Last visit to the United States. Awarded an honorary doctorate by Harvard University.
1980 - King Juan Carlos awards him the Gold Medal for Fine Arts.
1983 - Death of Joan Miró in Palma, Majorca, on 25 December. He is buried on 29 December in the Montjuïc cemetery, Barcelona.