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Alongside Gaudi Casa Mila the other art exhibit I definitely wanted to see while in Barcelona was the Fundacio Joan Miro which is an impressive collection of Miro work with many of the pieces being donated by the man himself.
About the artist
Miro passed away bin his 90th year in 1983 and is one of the great Catalan artists. Much of his work has links to Surrealism and abstract art, for me it his sculptures that are of particular interest and provide the most pleasure however that is not to say that I would discount his paintings and drawings it is just that on the whole I find that the sculpture has more of a “wow” factor. Certainly it was the sculptures that most appealed to the children with the exception of the giant tapestry that covers a huge wall space and can be viewed from both ground level and also from a balcony where the sheer size and considerable weight can be appreciated.
Getting There
A small part of the pleasure of visiting this gallery is that it is located on Montjuic hence you have the enjoyment of getting there. You could use the impressive cross harbour cable car and then take a brisk ten minute walk uphill to the gallery however as I mentioned in my general review of Barcelona
there can be a long wait before you get to enjoy the excellent views and it is not cheap.
Alternatively you could use the metro to Paral Lei and use the Funicular de Montjuic which deposits you a mere four minutes walk from the gallery and incurs no extra cost as you can use your metro ticket on it.
Alternatively a number of regular and tourist buses swarm over the mount and you will certainly find yourself spending at least one day in the area as there is so much to see.
Hours and Costs
It is open every day except Monday usually opening at 10.00 and closing at 19.00 except on Thursdays 21.30 and Sunday 14.30 although do check times locally.
The entry cost was very reasonable at 9 euro if my memory serves me right and there was no charge for the kids which made it a cheap visit. We did not take up the offer of the audio device as I had read that all of the works were described in English and I prefer the freedom to set my own pace when visiting any sort of museum or art gallery.
The Gallery
This is a purpose built building to display the work of Miro and was designed by his close friend the architect Josep-Luis Serp and hence it is essentially a canvas on which to show each piece to the best effect.
This is done with a subtle understated effect, large white walls where natural light is made good use of as is the size of the rooms which varies, at times I felt like I was walking around an immaculately white Mediterraneanvilla whilst at other times larger rooms opened out to resemble a more familiar gallery like the Tate Modern in London.
There is also a good variation in the pieces presented, once you have paid your entry fee you walk through a small squarecourtyard, the walkway is flanked by a couple of large sculptures of instruments and then you enter through glass doors into the first of the exhibits which is in the form of a huge multi layered tapestry which rises out to greet you in places and has numerous kinds of material making up its body. It is an impressive piece and is flanked by smaller tapestries as well.
One of the things I liked about this museum is the great range of work available to view and although a the majority of the work comes from his later life however there are some early Realist works as well which includes Portrait of a Girl which is one of his well known signature pieces. The Civil War has a lasting impression on Miro and his work from that period is displayed in one of the ground level floors and had a much darker feel to them.
On the upper floor there is a nice garden terrace which has a number of sculptures which you can walk amongst. Unlike other parts of the gallery this is one area that you can take pictures in and the brightly coloured iron and plastic sculptures with their mixture of human body parts and abstract shapes.
The other area that I enjoyed visiting was in a lovely cool basement which had three displays that made use of video, one the Wash Room by Antonia Fritch has you playing the voyeur spying through a couple of small holes into a wash room where a young woman is preparing to take a bath, she is naked however you only get to see an outline of her most of the time a bit like the invisible man, you can see an opaque form moving around but no features until she comes into contact with water when that part of her body in contact with the water becomes visible, it is a fascinating piece and it took a while to drag my hormonally challenged 14 year old away from it. Apart from the 14 year olds favourite the one the kids enjoyed the most was called Waiting Room by Cyprien Quairat where you sit in one of four chairs and the image is shown opposite however the seating arrangement and time frame is altered and out of synch with what is actually happening in the room and sometimes the image is not of the person in the chair, it is quite a strange feeling and the kids loved it.
The other room well worth spending some time in is a room dedicated to Miro showing the work of other artists and there are pieces from Moore, Matisse and the Basque sculpture Chillida as well as a superb fountain by Calder.
There is a nice size to the museum, it is quite compact and can easily be explored in a couple of hours, all of the pieces re well displayed and there is a good variety as you move from room to room with the work spread over two levels. There are descriptions in English for all the pieces as well as more detailed background pieces. Other Facilities
As I said getting around is easy and although there are stairs there are also lifts to all the floors for those who are unsteady on their feet of those with push chairs.
The toilets were spotless and there were facilities on every floor.
There is a nice café and the three of us enjoyed large freshly made sandwiches which were lovely and drinks for just less than 15 euro. There was also a more complete menu as well and a licensed bar but we did not sample the hot food. There was also indoor and outdoor seating in a nice garden area however there was not a lot of seating and some people had to stand around with their food waiting for a table.
There is a large gift shop and a very comprehensive book shop packed full of art books for those looking for a nice gift.
I would definitely recommend a visit even if you do not think you know anything by Miro because you will soon find something you recognise, it is not too large that you do not feel able to see everything, however it was quite busy when we visited and seemed to heat up a bit so I would not advise a visit in August, then again I would not advise visiting Barcelona at all in August. Certainly the kids found enough to keep them entertained and I was quite impressed when my oldest noticed a sculpture in one of the parks as being a piece by Miro, at least he was not looking at some partially clothed woman.
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