A fascinating and previously unknown connection between renowned Spanish surrealist artist Joan Miró and Korea has been revealed through his ceramic work, according to his grandson Joan Punyet Miró. The unexpected link centers around the traditional Korean wood-fired kilns that the late master used in his ceramic practice at his forest studio located approximately 64 kilometers north of Barcelona.
Joan Punyet Miró, who represents Successió Miró, the estate that manages the rights to the artist's works, explained the significance of these traditional firing methods during a press conference at the "Joan Miró: Sculptures" exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac gallery in Seoul. "He never used electric or gas kilns, because the most important thing is the flame, ashes and smoke that make the patina so special," the grandson revealed, referring to the distinctive surface color and texture finish achieved on ceramics through this ancient technique.
The Korean connection emerged through Miró's collaboration with Josep Llorens i Artigas, a celebrated Catalan ceramist who had traveled to Japan and gained expertise in constructing both Korean and Japanese kilns. These traditional kilns continue to be used in Miró's original studio today. "My grandfather worked with two wooden fire kilns, one Korean and one Japanese, rebuilt in Spain with the original measurements and materials," Joan Punyet Miró explained while showcasing 13 bronze works by the late artist.
Despite this strong connection to Korean ceramic traditions, Joan Punyet Miró noted with some regret that his grandfather never had the opportunity to visit Korea personally. However, the influence of Korean craftsmanship clearly left its mark on the artist's creative process and approach to ceramic work.
Miró, who initially emerged during the Surrealism movement that was transforming European art with its focus on dreams and the unconscious mind, eventually developed his own distinctive artistic language characterized by signs and poetic abstraction. While his paintings have received widespread recognition, his bronze sculptures, which he began exploring seriously after turning 40, remain relatively underappreciated by the general public.
"From 1965, he made a big production of bronze sculptures, and he was already 70 years old," Joan explained, highlighting how his grandfather fully embraced this three-dimensional medium much later in his artistic career. The bronze works follow the same conceptual approach as Miró's paintings, transforming natural objects into sculptural forms through his intuitive and playful artistic vision.
Sharing personal memories of his grandfather, Joan Punyet Miró described walking into the artist's studio and discovering "a big circle of seashells, rocks and branches, stones and roots." He explained that Miró "would let them talk to each other because he believed every single element of Mother Nature was sacred. He understood the spiritual forces of all the elements of nature."
This philosophy translated directly into Miró's artistic practice, where instead of depicting reality in a literal sense, he reduced the world into simple, symbolic signs including stars, eyes, birds, roots, and soft organic shapes, arranging them with the rhythm and flow of poetic lines. His sculptures employed this same methodology, converting natural objects into three-dimensional forms that maintained his characteristic intuitive and playful aesthetic.
Throughout his career, Miró maintained relationships with other master artists of his era, including Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, and Henry Moore, according to his grandson. However, perhaps one of the most surprising connections was his friendship with Ahn Eak-tai, the composer who wrote Korea's national anthem.
After the Korean War ended in 1953, Ahn Eak-tai settled in Europe, where he married a woman from Mallorca and subsequently founded the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Balearic Islands. This relocation made him Miró's neighbor and eventually a close personal friend. "It is a very interesting relationship. I know his two daughters, still living in Mallorca; they are very good friends of mine," Joan Punyet Miró told The Korea Herald, emphasizing the continuing connection between the families.
The Thaddaeus Ropac gallery in Seoul is currently presenting the Miró sculpture exhibition alongside another show featuring rapidly emerging Korean artist Chung Hee-min titled "Garden of Turmoil." The concurrent exhibitions create an artistic dialogue between Miró's works and Chung's new paintings and bronze sculptures, which draw inspiration from the natural world using motifs retrieved from online databases and manipulated through 3D digital modeling software before being transferred onto canvas or transparent gel medium sheets.
Both exhibitions will remain on display through December 7, offering visitors a unique opportunity to explore the unexpected connections between Korean artistic traditions and one of Europe's most celebrated modern masters.
