Joan Miró
Although Miró was born in Barcelona in 1893, his work and life are linked to two other Spanish cities where he passed most of his time; Tarragona y Mallorca. At the age of 18, Miró started painting.
Between 1915 and 1918, his work was mostly influenced by cubism, fauvism, Cézanne and Van Gogh. In this works, his love for figures and landscapes from the rural world where he spent his youth was clearly present.
Later, there clearly was a surrealistic influence in his works. However, Miro never was an orthodox surrealist and tried to be original and creative in every way.
Miró spent a great part of his life traveling between Paris, Tarragona and Mallorca. At the end of his life he decided to move to Palma de Mallorca in 1965 and lived their till he died in 1983. There he finally realized his dream of working in a great workshop and kept on searching for new techniques.
Nowadays, a lot of his works can be admired in the Pilar and Joan Miró Fundation and Museum in Palma de Mallorca.
Chopin
Another famous artists who spent some time in Mallorca was Frédéric Chopin. Chopin’s experience in Mallorca, however, was less pleasant than that of Miró. Chopin arrived there in the extremely cold winter of 1838-1839. As he had problems finding a place to stay, he ended up in the monastery of Valldemossa.
As if staying in a cold monastery wasn’t bad enough, Chopin also experienced problems with the sending over of his piano. In the end he had to rent one.
Although Chopin suffered from serious health problems during his stay in Mallorca, he finished his preludes (Op.28) there.
Nowadays, the “Chopin Festival” is held in the cloister of the monastery of Valldemossa. In 2007, it will take place on 5, 12, 19 and 26 August, at 10pm. For information and tickets visit Festivalchopin