“And then in the mirror/ the moon looms up inside a pail/ the moon’s water nestled in Miró’s palm/ while in his other hand, dusky and bloodstained/ dances a flame./ Joan Miró, the least abstract juggler in the world/ puts on his show.” —Jacques Prévert
Now at the Museum of Modern Art, Joan Miró: Birth of the World (through June 15, 2019) draws primarily from MoMA’s own incredible collection of paintings by the Catalan giant of surrealism, Joan Miró (b. 1893, Barcelona; d. 1983, Mallorca). Focussed on his landmark painting The Birth of the World (1925), the exhibition is thoughtfully built around Miró’s long and fruitful relationship with poets, and his engagement in experimentation and the creative process. When Miró’s friend the poet Jacques Prévert was asked about the artist, he responded with a poem. Incorporated with imagery from Thomas Bouchard’s 1955 film Around and About Joan Miró, MoMA created this video of Miró’s work and Prévert’s 1956 poem.