Joan Miró

Adonides: a portfolio of forty-three

The complete portfolio comprised of 43 engravings, with accompanying text by Jacques Prévert, 1975, signed by the artist and numbered 82/200 on the frontispiece, on

Biography

Joan Miró (1893 – 1983)
Joan Miró Ferra was born into a family of craftsmen in Barcelona in 1893, where he received an education in business and art. Moving to Paris in 1920, he met Pablo Picasso and got involved in the Dada movement. His first solo exhibition in Paris was held at the Galerie La Licorne in 1921. In 1924 he signed the Surrealist manifesto, and his solo show at the Galerie Pierre in 1925 turned into a major Surrealist event. International recognition came with a large retrospective, held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1941.

Since the 1920s Miró lived and worked alternately in France and his Catalan homeland, to which he remained attached throughout his life. He is best known for his vividly coloured paintings of fantastic insect-like figures and organic shapes, seemingly floating in space, but also excelled in many different media: collages, murals, stage design, sculpture, ceramics, etchings and lithographs. He died on the island of Majorca, Spain, in 1983.