Mallorca is celebrating Joan Miró with a major cultural event: "Paysage Miró" represents the most comprehensive exhibition of the Catalan master ever shown on the island. Four prestigious institutions - La Llotja, the Fundació Miró Mallorca, Museum Es Baluard, and Casal Solleric - have joined forces to create a "Miró landscape" throughout Palma.
This ambitious collaboration marks nearly 50 years since Palma last honored Miró with a major retrospective in 1978 at La Llotja and Casal Solleric, which was attended by the Spanish royal family. The current exhibition is even larger and more ambitious than its predecessor, and is expected to serve as a milestone in Palma's bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2031.
"Paysage Miró" is the result of unprecedented cooperation between the Balearic regional government, the city of Palma, the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca, Es Baluard Museu d'Art Contemporani, Casal Solleric, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. The exhibition has been curated by Antònia Maria Perelló, David Barro, Fernando Gómez de la Cuesta, and Carmen Fernández - the directors of the participating institutions and a conservator from the Museo Reina Sofía.
The four sub-exhibitions are interconnected, with each institution illuminating Miró's work from its own unique perspective. Together, they form a complete picture of the artist and his creative process.
**La Llotja: "La fuerza inicial" (The Initial Force)**
La Llotja showcases Miró's monumental bronze sculptures with dark patina. The 15th-century Gothic architecture made of light limestone provides a spectacular backdrop for these powerful figures - what Carmen Fernández describes as the result of Miró's breathtaking, unbridled imagination.
Miró only began seriously pursuing sculpture in 1940, after leaving France due to World War II. In his notes, he wrote: "In sculpture, I will create a truly phantasmagorical world of living monsters." His figures were created in renowned foundries in Paris and Verona, both known for their elegant black patina.
The bronze sculptures captivate through their formal simplicity while connecting opposites such as masculine and feminine, heaven and earth. Their hybrid forms appear neither purely human nor animal, but rather mythical and full of meaning. Particularly impressive are the bird sculptures "Oiseau lunaire" (Moon Bird) and "Oiseau solaire" (Sun Bird) from 1966. Depending on the viewing angle, they appear cheeky or dreamy, grotesque or self-confident.
"Conque" (Shell) and "Maternité" (Motherhood) embody femininity and fertility, while works like "Personnage" (Person) and "Tête" (Head) unite masculine symbols with cosmic references. Miró himself said in 1974: "In me reigns the pictorial and poetic fact; a form gives me an idea, this idea another form."
**Fundació Miró Mallorca: "La chispa mágica" (The Magic Spark)**
The Foundation demonstrates how everyday objects ignited Miró's creativity, while also displaying works by other artists including Picasso, Calder, Kandinsky, and Klee. "These magic sparks are the only thing that counts in art," the artist once said.
The exhibition guides visitors through a universe of objects that Miró collected in his studios, while providing direct insight into how the artist transformed these inspirations into his works. In each area hangs a notepad with a quote from the artist relating to the respective sources of inspiration. Visitors can collect these quotes in an envelope they receive at reception - just as the artist collected his sources of inspiration.
Stones with shells served as templates for color spots on canvas. A double almond inspired him to create the sculpture in front of the Foundation. When Miró examined a chicken bone while eating, he asked his wife to save it, which later became a winged dog sculpture.
Whether newspaper clippings, found objects, children's toys, folk art, or exchanges with other artists - Miró was deeply connected to his environment. "He was like a sponge," says Foundation Director Antònia Maria Perelló. "However quiet he was, everything served as stimuli for him. Dance, cinema, musicians, poets, nature - he absorbed everything and released it years later."
Scientific images from the 1950s and 1960s, including X-rays and microscopic views, also sparked his imagination.
**Museum Es Baluard: "Pintar entre las cosas" (Painting Between Things)**
David Barro, Director of Es Baluard, presents Miró as a revolutionary in painting. "A critic once said that Joan Miró is usually more modern than his interpreters," Barro explains. "One could tell the story of 20th-century contemporary painting through Miró."
The exhibition "Painting Between Things" begins with a Fauvist landscape from 1916 and continues through to the radical works of the 1970s. Two large canvases dominate the museum entrance - hung upside down. A 1975 photograph shows Miró in his studio in front of these same inverted paintings.
"When I came into the studio, I felt disturbed," Miró recalled. "I said to myself: This doesn't work. But I couldn't find the reason... I put a question mark. Then the answer came and I turned the canvas around."
Miró could have easily continued with his successful style. Instead, in the 1970s, he burned paintings, painted over other works, and slashed canvases. "He was a nonconformist, very courageous in his approach to painting," says Barro.
In 1925, Miró painted an almost empty canvas with a blue spot and wrote: "This is the color of my dreams." These blue spots appear 18 times throughout the exhibition.
**Casal Solleric: "El color y su sombra" (The Color and Its Shadow)**
The Casal presents the relationship between Miró's painting and sculpture under the title "The Color and Its Shadow." "Miró said that time doesn't count in his work and that he belongs to the present," explains Casal Solleric Director Fernando Gómez de la Cuesta. The exhibition follows this philosophy and abandons chronological order.
Miró's sculptures often emerged from found objects. These paradoxical assemblages recall Dadaist and Surrealist approaches while remaining grounded and connected to folk art. The exhibition highlights how Miró portrayed his "femme" figures - symbols of connection to earth and life-giving principles - across different media.
In paintings, they appear as black spots; in sculptures, as volumes to which additional volumes are added. "Miró distilled centuries of art history," explains Gómez de la Cuesta. "That's why he is a radically contemporary artist."
The exhibition demonstrates how he transferred his universe into sculpture and how he connected his work with other crafts - weaving, mosaics, graphics, and ceramics.
**Exhibition Details**
"Paysage Miró" opened last Wednesday at the Fundació Miró Mallorca and runs until January 11, 2026. At La Llotja, the opening was held on Thursday, July 31, with the exhibition ending February 1, 2026. The openings at Casal Solleric (7:30 PM) and Es Baluard (8:30 PM) took place on Friday, August 1, with both exhibitions running until November 9.
This comprehensive celebration of Joan Miró's work represents not only the most extensive presentation of the artist's oeuvre ever mounted on the island but also demonstrates the collaborative spirit that characterizes Mallorca's cultural ambitions as it seeks recognition as a major European cultural destination.
