| Miró Foundation | |
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Fundacion Miro Museum |
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| Established | 1975 |
| Location | Montjuïc in Barcelona |
| Director | Rosa Maria Malet |
| Public transit access | Montjunc Funicular |
| Website | Fundació Joan Miró website |
The Fundation Joan Miró, Centre d'Estudis d'Art Contemporani (Joan Miró Foundation) is a museum of modern art honoring Joan Miró and located on the hill called Montjuïc in Barcelona, Catalonia.
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The idea for the foundation was made in 1968 by Joan Miró. Miró formed the foundation with his friend Joan Prats.[1] Miró wanted to create a new building that would encourage particularly younger artists to experiment with contemporary art. The building was designed by Josep Lluís Sert to ensure that this work could also be made available to the public and exhibited. He designed the building with courtyards and terraces and to create a natural path for visitors to move through the building.
Building began on the mountain of Montjuïc and the foundation opened on 10 June 1975. Not only was the architect a close friend of Miro but so was the first president Joaquim Gomis and Miro was amongst the first board. It was claimed that the new foundation represented a new way of viewing the concept of a museum and how the people of Barcelona could relate to their cultural heritage.[2]
Expansion in 1986 to the building added an auditorium and a library which holds some of the 10,000 items in the Foundation and Miro's collection.
Many of the works in the building were donated by the artist himself.[3]
In line with Miro's original idea the Foundation has a space named "Espai 13" which is dedicated to promoting the work of young experimental artists. Although there is also work by Peter Greenaway, Chillida, Rene Magritte, Rothko, Tapies and Saura. The collection includes Alexander Calder's 4 Wings and Mercury Fountain. The Mercury Fountain is a fountain that uses the liquid metal mercury to create a fountain. As mercury is poisonous the fountain is kept behild glass to protect the visitors.[3]
The museum uses QRpedia to allow visitors to read Wikipedia articles about objects in the collection, translated into their preferred language.[4]
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