Exposition "MiróMatisse", Fundació Miró, Barcelone
Curated by:
Rémi Labrusse, art historian
Under the direction of Marko Daniel, director of the Fundació Miró, and Aymeric Jeudy, director of the Nice Matisse Museum
The exhibition “MiróMatisse. Beyond Images” has been presented from 28 June to 29 September 2024 in the Nice Matisse Museum. Organised in partnership with the Fundació Miró, the exhibition is taking place in Barcelona from 25 October 2024 to 9 February 2025.
At first sight, the comparison between the two artists may seem paradoxical. They belong to different generations (Matisse was born in 1869 and Miró in 1893) and are generally associated with different artistic milieux (Fauvism in Matisse’s case, Surrealism in Miró’s) and aesthetic approaches (Matisse’s work is related to ‘decorative’ harmony while Miró’s is believed to be imbued with a sense of the uncanny). However, the exhibition aims to challenge stereotypes and underline the deep, lasting, and constructive relationships that exist between the two artists, their views on art and their works.
In both cases their creations are founded on a strong stand against the Western visual tradition. Driven by the same critical concern, Matisse and Miró developed expanded practices of drawing and painting. It should therefore come as no surprise that their paths converged and that they admired each other.
Starting with a focus on biographical information, the exhibition highlights the decisive moments when these exchanges were most productive: Miró’s conception of Fauvism in the late 1910s and early 1940s; the significance of his work which provided Matisse with a welcome stimulus in the mid-1930s; their visions of drawing and color in the early 1950s. The exhibition then explores the practices they had in common, comparing Miró’s ‘assassination’ of painting and Matisse’s decorative aesthetics: illustrated books, monumental compositions.
The exhibition is organized around seven sections:
1. “North-South”. At the roots of reality
2. “Fauvism, only more brutal”: Matisse’s lesson
3. “Starting over with painting”: Miró’s lesson
4. Shared connections. Poets and books
5. Beyond the painting. Architectural decorations
6. Decorating or deconstructing? “The desire of the line”
7. Creating space. “Chromatic symphonies”