Joan Miro
A Closer Look
Joan Miro presents a collection of various objects in his painting Horse, Pipe and Red Flower. Take some time to identify the objects that are somewhat hidden in this picture. How has Miro disguised things? What is the drawing in the book? How would you paint a still life of objects? Miro painted things as if they were in a dream. Think about a dream that you have had and create a drawing or painting about it. Try to give your artwork an unreal, fantastic feeling.
About the Painting
Joan Miro admired cave paintings and he wanted his art to be primitive, playful and flat. He painted Horse, Pipe and Red Flower in 1920, shortly after he arrived in Paris, before he joined the Surrealist movement. In this painting we can see the influence of Cubism. Cubist painters believed that the real meaning of objects can only be captured by showing them from multiple points of view at the same time.
About the Artist
Joan Miro was born in Barcelona, Spain, but Paris shaped him as an artist. He went there for the first time in 1920 and met all sorts of artists including Pablo Picasso, another Spanish painter, and Ernest Hemingway, an American writer. He joined the Surrealists, who were more interested in portraying fantasies and dreams than real objects or places. Miro became one of the best-known Surrealist painters in the world.
Glossary
Cubism: a movement in 20th century painting and sculpture that shows objects from multiple points of view at the same time.
Surrealism: a 20th century literary and artistic movement using fantastic or bizarre imagery or effects.
Write About It
- Make a list of what you see.
- How did the artist use the elements and principles of design?
- What do you think the painting means? How does it make you feel?
- Select two paintings to compare & contrast.
