Exhibition of the little-known late work of the Catalan artist Joan Miró | Zentrum Paul Klee

Exhibition of the little-known late work of the Catalan artist Joan Miró | Zentrum Paul Klee

Between 28 January and 7 May 2023 the Zentrum Paul Klee is devoting an extensive exhibition to the little-known late work of the Catalan artist Joan Miró. The expressive large-format works show a surprisingly raw side of his works, even for lovers of Miró’s, and are distinguished by a constant search for new expressive forms.

Exhibition of the little-known late work of the Catalan artist Joan Miró | Zentrum Paul Klee

Joan Miró is known for his colourful surrealist dream worlds. Particularly after his long-awaited move into his own large studio in Palma de Mallorca in 1956, however, the Catalan artist extended his concept of painting in a hitherto unfamiliar direction. He questioned the whole of his previous reuvre, reworked early pieces or returned to works that had been left incomplete. This moment of self-criticism and a new beginning forms the starting point for the exhibition at the Zentrum Paul Klee.

From now on the artist saw conventional easel painting as a limitation and tried to find new expressive forms. Thus, for example, he 'painted' with fire and scissors rather than a brush, expanded his technique to textiles or overpainted classical paintings from the flea market with impulsive brushstrokes. In this way he produced large-format paintings and sculptures that remain resolutely contemporary.

On the exhibition: Joan Miró and Paul Klee
The exhibition includes 74 works, mostly from the late 1960s, the 1970s and the early 1980s. Most come from the holdings of the Fundacio Joan Miró, Barcelona as well as the Fundacio Pilar i Joan Miró in Mallorca, and are being shown in Switzerland for the first time.

The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the Zenturm Paul Klee and the Fundacio Joan Miró, where the major Paul Klee exhibition Paul Klee i els secrets de la natura (21.10.2022-12.02.2023) can be seen at the moment. 'Klee fut la rencontre capitale de ma vie' [Klee was the key encounter of my life], Joan Miró said of Paul Klee, fourteen years his senior, and the Swiss artist is also said to have spoken highly of the Catalan's work to his Bauhaus colleague Wassily Kandinsky. Even though the two artists never met in person, the encounter with Paul Klee's work made a lasting impression on Joan Miró. Both artists, for example, engaged with children's drawings and prehistoric art, and this is apparent in the reduced formal language of their own works. Thanks to his study of the Swiss artist's work Miró also succeeded in finding a balance between figurative Surrealism and abstraction.

Opening
The opening of the exhibition will take place on Friday, 27 January 2023, from 6 pm. Admission to the exhibition is free on this evening.

Curator
Fabienne Eggelhofer

Assistant Curator
Myriam Dossegger

Catalogue
To coincide with the exhibition a richly illustrated catalogue is being published, with an examination of Miró's late work, the areas of common ground between Joan Miró and Paul Klee's work and thought as well as essays about Joan Miró's large studio in Palma de Mallorca and the reworking of his own works. The catalogue is published by Snoeck Verlag, Cologne, and costs CHF 38.

With the support of
Kanton Bern, Burgergemeinde Bern, Federal Office of Culture

 

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