
Joan MiróSpanish, 1893–1983May one see it?
Washington, D.C., United States
On public display.
The Farm is an oil painting made by Joan Miró between the summer of 1921 in Mont-roig del Camp and winter 1922 in Paris. It is a kind of inventory of the masia (traditional Catalan farmhouse) owned by his family since 1911 in the town of Mont-roig del Camp. Miró himself regarded this work as a key in his career, describing it as "a summary of my entire life in the countryside" and "the summary of one period of my work, but also the point of departure for what was to follow." It now resides in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, where it was given in 1987 by Mary Hemingway, coming from the private collection of American writer Ernest Hemingway, who had described it by saying, “It has in it all that you feel about Spain when you are there and all that you feel when you are away and cannot go there. No one else has been able to paint these two very opposing things.”
1920
Moves to Paris
Inspired by Fauve and Cubist exhibitions, Miró was drawn to the artistic community gathering in Montparnasse and moved to Paris, though he continued to spend his summers in Catalonia.
1920
Meets Picasso
In Paris Miró met Picasso and other artists.
1921
His first solo show in Paris
Josep Dalmau arranged Miró's first Parisian solo exhibition at the Galerie la Licorne.
1924
Joins the Surrealist circle
Miró joined the Surrealist circle, whose dream-like automatism suited his symbolic and poetic art, but chose not to become an official member so as to experiment freely; Breton called him “the most Surrealist of us all”.