The Joan Miró Foundation officially opened in 1976, and 25 years later expanded its exhibition space so as to properly display the 23 paintings by Miró on long-term loan from the Gallery K. AG, which was founded by Kazumasa Katsuta. The Foundation’s relationship with this Japanese collector, the owner of the world’s largest private collection of Joan Miró works, began with a 1993 exhibition marking the centenary of the artist’s birth. Later, the collector collaborated on two other exhibitions: 'Joan Miró'. 'Equilibrium in Space' and 'Klee, Tanguy, Miró. Three Approaches to Landscape'. The Gallery K’s set of 23 paintings were produced from 1914 to 1973 and sum up Miró’s stylistic development, thus facilitating an overall interpretation of his creative work.

The city, as a whole, holds a series of Miró art, such as the spectacular pottery-covered sculpture 'Dona i ocell' (1982), in the Parc de l'Escorxador; the bronze sculpture 'Dona' (1983), in the central courtyard of the Casa de la Ciutat; the collection of 20 ceramic pieces in the city’s Ceramic Museum, in the Palau Reial de Pedralbes; and the famous pavement decorated with a Miró design, placed on the Pla de l´Ós, close to the Liceu Opera House and La Boqueria market. Other notables of Miró’s works include the ceramic mural in ‘Terminal B’ at the Barcelona Airport, produced in 1970 in collaboration with J. Llorens i Artigas, and the 'Tarragona Tapestry' (1970) in the Hospital de la Creu Roja, in Tarragona.PAGE_BREAK Throughout his life, Joan Miró was particularly fascinated by the diversity of materials, forms and colours, and vastly explored different techniques, such as painting, sculpture, printing, ceramics, theatre and tapestry. The artist’s collaboration with Josep Royo, an innovative craftsman, led to the 1970s tapestry and textiles. The sculptures collection follows Miró’s 1944 work with Josep Llorens Artigas, on ceramics. The collaboration, which lasted for a few years, inspired him to produce his first sculptures modelled in clay, later fired or cast in bronze. It was not until the 1960s that Miró started to regularly work on bronze sculptures, based on an assemblage of manufactured objects. In the 1940s, the artist used the cire perdue method of bronze casting. Sculpture and ceramics enabled the artist to create monumental works of art for the public show, such as 'Pair of lovers playing with almond blossom', for the Parisian district of La Défense, as well as the ceramic mural for the Barcelona Airport. In his work, Miró wanted to stimulate the viewer’s imagination. His techniques display affinities with oriental art, which he came to know in 1966 while visiting Japan. During the 1960s, having produced three mural canvases (triptychs painted on a monochrome ground), Miró continued to gradually isolate signs and pare down forms, as well as refine colours, following an attempt to achieve maximum impact with minimum means. In some of his canvases, even the signs disappeared, and his painting thus became increasingly gestural.