The great Joan Miro, one of Barcelona’s proudest sons, decided that he wanted Barcelona to have one of the world’s finest art collections. In 1972 he asked his friend Josep Lluis Sert to design the museum and what emerged was the beautiful white building we see today, bathed in natural light.

The heart of the collection is an excellent range of the artist’s own works which include paintings, sculptures, textiles and drawings that were made after 1917. While much of the work is spontaneous and delightful, some of the more striking works include the Barcelona series, which is a series of lithographs depicting the horrors of the Civil War.

Much of Miro’s early work, before he traveled to Paris, demonstrates an interest in cubism and particularly with Cezanne. In 1919 he moved to Paris and quickly got involved with the surrealist movement. However, no sooner had he joined them than he had moved on and developed his own personal language to depict the dreamlike states of the unconscious.

Miro is now a world famous artist, having died in 1983. Central to his work is the tension between abstraction and representation and a visit to his museum is highly recommended.