8 march, 2001 - 27 april, 2001 /

Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey (Burgos)

Joan Miró. Paysage (Landscape), 1974. Painting. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Collection, Madrid — Joan Miró. *Paysage (Landscape)*, 1974. Painting. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Collection, Madrid

In the same room of the Santo Domingo de Silos Monastery that exhibited the works of Antoni Tàpies and José María Sicilia, works by Joan Miró (Barcelona, 1893 - Palma de Mallorca, 1983) one of the most representative Spanish artists can now be seen. After numerous exhibitions of the artist in the Sabatini building dedicated to aspects of his career such as Miró Escultor (1986) or Miró Grabador (1987), on this occasion eight large paintings and five bronze sculptures are displayed. All works have been produced between 1968 and 1981 and belong to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía collection.

The paintings exhibited in this exhibition are: Sans titre I (Untitled I) from 1973; Femmes, oiseau dans la nuit (Women, bird at night) from 1974; three works entitled Paysage (Landscape) one from 1974 and two from 1976 in portrait and landscape formats; Oiseau dans l'espace (Bird in Space) from 1976; Personnages, oiseaux, contellations (Characters, birds, constellations) from 1976 and Femme oiseau I (Woman bird I) from 1977.

The pictorial language used by Miró in these pieces collect the spiritual influences that the artist draws from the East. The empty backgrounds and large strokes express a highly personal poetry, which he derives from his previous choices and recovers some of the most common symbols in his painting such as the bird, woman or stars.

From 1924 Miró contributes to the formation of pictorial surrealism when developing compositions based on blue, ploughed land, constellations, the sun, the moon, and insects. In 1932 he produces the design and staging of the ballet Jeux d'Enfants, an essential experience in his later sculptural development, the result of artistic investigation that leads him to become a reference for artists from the grupo Dau al Set and Antoni Tàpies.

The sculptures included in this exhibition, Tête dans la nuit (Head at night), from 1968; Personnage (Character) from 1970, Femme et oiseau (Woman and bird) from 1971, Personnage (Character) from 1981 and Le Roi-Guerrier (The King-Warrior) from 1981, are characteristic of his more recent production when the artist makes bronze casts of objects that have been found and which correspond to the so-called " poetry of the humble."

Miró transmits with astonishing simplicity through play and irony. He connects detail, insignificance and sacred -not supernatural- and treats characters and objects as belongings of a magical-religious galaxy.

In the pieces from this exhibition Miró's contact with Eastern philosophies are clearly apparent. In 1966, Miró visits the stone garden in Ryôan-ji

in Kyoto. His connection with Zen has a strong influence on the development of Miró’s work. Just like the garden of this Buddhist temple, the Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos is a paradigmatic place to contemplate the works by the Catalan artist, which have within its walls the meditation space and silence necessary to show all their mystery.