Joan Miró i Ferrà (* 20 April 1893 in Barcelona, Catalonia; † 25 December 1983 in Palma) was a Spanish-Catalan painter, graphic artist, sculptor and ceramicist. Miró, as a representative of Classical Modernism with his imaginative pictorial motifs, is one of the most popular Surrealists of the 20th century.
Building on Catalan folk art, his early works show influences from Cubism and Fauvism. From the beginning to the mid-1920s, the artist made the fundamental change in style in Paris, influenced by the prevailing art movements of Dadaism and Surrealism, which led him away from objectivity. As a representative of classical modernism, Miró is one of the most popular artists of the 20th century with his imaginative pictorial motifs. His magical symbols for the moon, stars, birds, eyes and women are among the most famous elements of his art. The disturbing late work, such as the Toiles brûlées (Burned Canvases) series, was staged destruction, a protest against the commercialization of art and an expression of his demand to “murder painting”. In the public space, for example, his ceramic walls adorn the UNESCO building in Paris and the Wilhelm Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen am Rhein; Monumental sculptures are set up in squares in Barcelona and Chicago, among others.