Joan Miró to the power of three is coup for Tate

Five huge triptychs by Spanish surrealist Joan Miró are being displayed together for the first time in a Tate Modern exhibition.

Gathered from the Pompidou Centre in Paris, a private collection and the Miró Foundation in Barcelona, the three-part paintings are the crescendo of Tate's Miró retrospective, which opens this week.

Created between 1961 and 1974, the triptychs are all markedly distinct. Two feature shimmeringly bright colours while the others are dominated by white. Chapel-like octagonal rooms have been built to display the works.

Dr Matthew Gale, co-curator of the exhibition, expressed astonishment at Tate's coup: "The coloured ones from the early Sixties had already left Miró's studio by the time he worked on the later ones, so they haven't been displayed in one place up to now, which is extraordinary."

Miró was fascinated with painting across three panels, often aiming for a meditative mood, said Dr Gale. "The most succinct of the triptychs, the white ground triptych with a single black line on each canvas, really summarises this. It is about a Zen contemplation."

The Fireworks triptych (1974) has a more energetic, celebratory feel, featuring huge splashes made by throwing a bucket of paint on to the canvas.

"To think that a man in his eighties is making that gesture on a grand scale is pretty astonishing," Dr Gale said. But one triptych has a markedly darker tone, reflecting Miró's political convictions, a consistent theme in the exhibition. In The Hope Of A Condemned Man (1973) Miró expresses disgust at a Catalan anarchist's execution by fascist dictator General Franco.

A proud Catalan, Miró had supported the Left-wing Republicans against Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), and though he returned to Spain when Franco began his long, oppressive regime after the war, Miró lived in effective exile on Majorca.

"The Hope Of A Condemned Man has an extraordinary impact when one is standing in front of it," Dr Gale said, "but it has this more complicated context that we tend to forget."

Miró eventually outlived Franco, dying aged 90 in 1983.

Joan Miró: The Ladder Of Escape is at Tate Modern from Thursday until September 11.

Breathtaking works from a true master of his medium


The triptychs of Joan Miró reflect the steadfast refusal of a successful artist to rest on his laurels.

By the Sixties, he was feted in the US and most of Europe. When Miró travelled to the States in the Forties and in 1959, he saw paintings by artists of the New York School, like Arshile Gorky, who was influenced by him. Miró drew lessons from the scale and ambition of their work.

Back in Mallorca he synthesised his excitement at the Americans' art with decades of experience in painting - and the triptychs that resulted are breathtaking. The Mural Paintings of 1962 are joyously colourful: a pulsing orange, vibrant red and hot green are redolent of the heat and light of Spain and, on this epic scale, they immerse you. You will not find a purer sensory thrill in any exhibition this year.

The Hope Of A Condemned Man contains Miró's familiar flowing abstract forms, but unnerving, violent splashes disrupt any harmony, and reflect Miró's dismay at Franco's regime.

And the Fireworks triptych is a remarkably expressive painting, almost a negative of fireworks against the night sky, rendered in vehement black and grey splashes and flicks of paint against a white background. But punctuating these dark marks are small dots and smudges of brilliant colour, like the zing of sparks. These tiny gestures reflect a lifetime's experience of painting - Miró is a true master of his medium.