Miro: theatre of dreams

Episode of Series “Phaidon art collection”.
A biographical documentary on Spanish painter and sculptor Joan Miro (1893-1983), renowned for his part in the 1920s surrealist movement in Paris in his exploration of the inner world of dreams and the unconscious in a range of works. The documentary traces his involvement at the age of 85 in putting together a strongly political theatrical piece with young actors under the banner of Claca theatre, a theatre ideally aimed to translate to performance anywhere and as a surreal vision of traditional Catalonian folk culture. The program discusses his fascination with this historical theatrical form from childhood and the seriousness behind the concept of monsters in the Claca production which underlines his opposition to tyrants in Spanish history, a reference to the fascist invasion of Spain in 1936 and Franco’s subsequent leadership. Interwoven with the coverage of the progress of Claca’s production is a very personal study of Miro’s life and work through interviews with Miro himself on the inspirations for his work from childhood to recent history and the underlying philosophy in his work of not distorting life but seeing it with the third eye, that is seeing it as a veil in the world of dreams. The program also explores the contents of his studio in Majorca, his working materials and the items he collected from travel abroad. A meditation on their reference points in his work and artistic process is presented through stills of his work and visuals of him working in his studio and discussing his instinctive style of painting which draws from ordinary life to create a surrealist poetic. Footage of the premiere of Claca Theatre when Catalonia returned to an independent state and a presentation of Miro’s thoughts at the time closes the program and underlines the continued significance and intensity of Miro’s artistic vision of history interwoven with the immediacy of everyday life.