Barcelona - Fundació Joan Miró

A tour of the Miró collection in the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona begins to the right of the first inner courtyard. Here there is first of all a chronological overview of the artist's life and work (examples of his work in reproduction form; model of the Spanish pavilion for the Paris World Exhibition of 1937) and also an enormous, brilliantly colored wall tapestry. In the next passageway there is an original mercury fountain ("Font de Mercuri") by Alexander Calder. Then follows the plastic design for a group of figures in the Paris district of La Défense (in a colored man-made substance) and after that a room with numerous monochrome graphics.

A staircase leads to the upper floor of the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona; here can be seen an extensive collection of paintings and there is a good view from above over the previously mentioned group of figures and the wall tapestry. In front of the entrance to the roof terrace (with its excellent view over the city and its colored statues) stands the great marble "sun-bird"; this is followed by a series of original copper printing plates belonging to the "Mallorca" series. In the octagon are many small-scale graphics (starting in 1901 and displayed in choronological order clockwise). The collection is completed by some works by Miró's contemporaries (several Catalans; Alexander Calder, Max Ernst, Henry Moore, etc.)