Joaquim Mir

Barcelona, 1873 – 1940

Joaquim Mir studied drawing and painting at Lluís Graner’s Academy. In 1893, he enrolled in the School of Fine Arts Llotja in Barcelona, where he met Isidre Nonell and Ricard Canals, etc.. In 1897, he frequented Els Quatre Gats café, where he took part in a group exhibition. His work was very innovative at the time in Spain, even though he was exempt from the references of European artists, since he was of the few painters of his generation who did not live in Paris. In 1900, he travelled to Mallorca, where he lived for three years. Together with Santiago Rusiñol and Antoni Gelabert, he immediately began what would be called pictorial itineraries along the Tramuntana coast. His obsession to achieve his own style led him to base his work on strong contrasts of light and expressive colour until managing to disregard form in favour of the prevalence of colour. In the 1920s, Mir exhibited in Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Amsterdam and at the Venice Biennale (1932 and 1934). In 1931, he was named a permanent academician of the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi in Barcelona.