From February 11 (Fri, holiday) to April 17 (Sun), 2022, Bunkamura The Museum in Shibuya, Tokyo, will present 'Miró: The Dream of Japan.' This rare opportunity offers a comprehensive look at approximately 130 works and documents, showcasing Miró's early interest in Japanese culture and his exploration of free, dynamic expression throughout his creative career.

Joan Miró (1893–1983) was a towering artist born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. After studying at art school, Miró began his career as a painter, dividing his time between his native village of Mont-roig and Barcelona. From a young age, he was captivated by the bold forms and colors of medieval frescoes and Gaudí's architecture.

While creating works brimming with the vitality of his homeland, Miró moved to Paris in 1920, befriended the poet André Breton, and joined the Surrealist movement. During the war, he continued to create while moving from place to place to escape conflict, facing difficulties in obtaining art supplies. In 1944, he began working with ceramics and sculpture, finding renewed energy through contact with simple, natural materials. In 1956, he established an atelier on the island of Mallorca, engaging in diverse artistic activities including sculpture, ceramics, murals, prints, and poetry. He passed away in 1983 at the age of 90.

While Joan Miró is widely recognized as a master of modern Spanish art alongside Picasso, his deep appreciation for Japanese culture behind his creative endeavors remains surprisingly little known. Influenced by the Japonisme boom that began with the 1888 World's Fair, Miró showed an early admiration and interest in Japanese culture. The young painter, who once remarked, "A blade of grass has as much charm as a tree or a mountain. Almost nobody, except the humble people and the Japanese, notices how sacred this is," also familiarized himself with ukiyo-e prints, particularly revering Katsushika Hokusai. His passion is evident in the collage of a ukiyo-e print in the background of 'Portrait of Henri Christophe Ricard.' This work marks the starting point of Miró's connection with Japan, and early pieces from his youth that hint at this interest will also be exhibited.

This exhibition delves into the artist's relationship with Japan through early works symbolizing his youthful admiration, his representative masterpieces, and 'Painting (The Snail, Woman, Flower, Star),' which is visiting Japan for the first time in 56 years. Furthermore, through Japanese folk art objects from his personal atelier and various documents detailing his exchanges with critic Shuzo Takiguchi, the exhibition unravels the profound ties between Miró and Japan, introducing the artist from a new perspective with approximately 130 works and documents.