Fundacio Joan Miro

The Joan Miro Foundation really is an excellent gallery. It is home to many of Miros works including a 12 foot tapestry, sculptures, pencil drawings and experimental paintings such as "Burnt Canvas".

But the architectural admirer in me was much more focused on the exterior of the building, rather than what it held.

The foundation is located in Barcelona. Miro was associated with both Barcelona and Paris.

The building was designed by architect Josep Lluis Sert, a close friend of Miro. Towards the end of the 1960’s the pair began working on an idea for a Miro Museum on a site in the Parc de Montjuic

The Foundation was designed in accordance with the principles of Rationalist architecture, with different spaces set around a central patio in the traditional Mediterranean style and with Sert's characteristic skylights. Designed to house the Miró collection the building continues to be an emblematic example of contemporary architecture.

In 1988 it was enlarged so as to gain more exhibition space, provide room for new services and relocate the offices. The extension was designed by Jaume Freixa, a friend and pupil of Sert.

Personally, I found the building to be conceptual and euphoric. The mass of white, curving walls on the patio prove to be both aesthetically beautiful and practical as providing natural sources of light into the gallery, streaming from every nook and cranny.