I have not had the chance to get into the Tate for a few months now and decided bicycle down to see Miro. The show brings works from around the world to London in the first major retrospective here for 50 years.
Renowned as one of the greatest Surrealist painters, an iconic artist using a language of symbols that reflects his personal vision, sense of freedom, and energy. Yet behind the engaging innocence of his imagery, lies his profound concern for humanity and a sense of personal and national identity celebrating his roots in his native Catalonia.
The exhibition traces his many varied periods which all deserve comment, but I wanted to mention two bodies of work that I enjoyed immensely. Firstly there was ‘The Constellations’ which I had never seen in person before. They are on a smaller scale than you first expect; and are so complex, provoking and dream like. I imagine myself sleep walking through these works in a blaze of surrealist splendor. Then there were the two triptych rooms in particular ‘The Hope of a Condemned Man’ I could just feel a huge smile growing on my face as I sat gazing on, being pulled ever deeper into its immersive draw. Miro purposefully chose the title to link the painting to the governments execution of Catalan anarchist Salvador Puig in 1974 despite preparatory sketches of the work dating back 15 years; for me this demonstrates a remarkable and deep thought process in all his carefully calculated works.
This is a must-see exhibition which for me seeing all the works together like this confirms Miro unquestionably as one of the greats of modern art.
