Surrealism was a very broadly based church centred on André Breton – although I doubt that he would have liked the word church. Defined by him as “pure psychic automatism” the movement encompassed writing (both fiction and poetry), film making, philosophy and, perhaps most widely known, the plastic arts.
Much of the latter was figurative to a greater or lesser degree – think Magritte, Dali, Delvaux – with recognisable elements which would have been too preconceived, too formal to assuage Breton’s dogma. There were artists, like Ernst, Tanguy, Matta, Masson who had a much freer approach, incorporating abstract elements. And there was Spanish artist Joan Miró, the most abstract of them all.
Many of the Surrealist artists also produced sculptures and those of Miró are on display at this major retrospective at the excellent Museum Beelden aan Zee in Scheveningen, the seaside suburb of The Hague.
Joan Miró was born in Barcelona in 1893 and was one of the early members of the Surrealist group which he joined in1924 after moving to Paris. Although best known for his paintings he also, in the later stages of his life, produced many pieces of sculpture and in 1964 completed a series of sculptures and ceramics for the garden of the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. He even created tapestries, one of which of which was displayed at the World Trade Center in New York and was one of the most important works of art lost during the 9/11 attacks.
Museum Beelden aan Zee is a unique, purpose built gallery overlooking the beach and while sculpture parks and gardens are not uncommon, there are very few museums dedicated to modern and contemporary sculpture and so this museum makes an ideal setting for such an important exhibition.
Despite having worked in ceramics before the war, Miró came to “real” sculpture fairly late in his career with most of the pieces created in the 1960s and 70s. Although already a famous artist with his pictures in the collections of major museums around the world, he felt insecure about working in three dimensions. He once said to Alexander Calder, “I am an established painter but a young sculptor”.
Although some of his sculptures, mainly the larger ones, are painted in typical Miró colours of bright blues, yellows and reds, most of the works are relatively small and in patinated bronze. Like most Surrealist sculpture, and especially the work of Picasso, Miró’s pieces often include or are built around objets trouvé – an old plastic bottle with a screw top, a model aeroplane, a couple of old stools or an upturned bentwood chair. Such is the nature of the pieces that it sometimes takes a while for one to recognise what one is looking at so you constantly hear, “Oh look, that’s an old spoon” or “Isn’t that a cobbler’s last?”
The fifty-five works on show in this beautiful and enlightening selection have arrived from around the world and includes two plaster studies, one of which is seen in a museum for the very first time.
I imagine there are few people unfamiliar with the paintings of Joan Miró but they may be less aware of his sculptures. You won’t find a better place with which to acquaint yourself with these wonderful pieces than at this important exhibition in the splendid museum by the sea.
In an adjoining room one can see the work of another Surrealist/Dadaist sculptor, Hans Arp, whose smooth sensual stone pieces provide a stark contrast to the intricate, often rough or painted bronzes next door. Michael Hasted 20th September 2024
Joan Miró Sculptures is organized in collaboration with the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona and continues until 2nd March 2025. An accompanying catalogue discusses, among other things, Miró’s working method and the symbolism of his sculpture.
