Selected Writings And Interviews by Joan Miró

Selected Writings And Interviews Reviews

• 
  Helena

  A fascinating read for anyone interested in Miró and related artists/art movements, and a must-read for any fan. Miró's to-the-point letters and beautiful poetry shed light to his whole life journey. In the form of letters, interviews, and excerpts from Miró's notes, the book moves from the artist's early struggles of finding his path all the way through the hunger-filled, feverish Paris years - and back again to wartime Spain and the later years of solitude, alongside with Miró's ever-developing views of art and philosophy, and coming into contact with other figures of his time - Picasso, Breton, Ernst, Leiris, and Hemingway, among countless others.
  
  What is remarkable about this book is that it offers such a direct view to the artist's relentlessly high working ethic, and his method of producing painting - like a craftsman, never giving up, never doubting himself, striving for perfection and working with the subconscious in an extremely controlled way, abandoning (and later fiercely rejecting) ideas such as abstraction and partly even the surrealist movement. Miró's art, filled with mystery and mythology, seems so clearly to reflect his life circumstances alongside with the more intellectually-driven artistic development. He moves from the serious early works (influenced by fauvism and cubism) to soft pastels, and then later to the "assassination of painting," the ever-present celestial themes, and even influences of Dutch and Japanese art, in addition to the Catalan spirit, which he, through-out his career, often talked about in his interviews.
• 
  Lauren

  Great insight into Miro's life as he progressed in his work and his growth in his ideas. I thoroughly enjoyed it.