Labyrinth (Miró, Joan)

Labyrinth is the set of sculptures and ceramics created by the Catalan artist Joan Miró for Marguerite Aimé Maeght, between 1961 and 1981. It is currently located at the Maeght Foundation in Saint Paul de Vence, France.[1]

Labyrinth consists of 250 works, mainly sculptures, scattered in a garden with terraces overlooking the sea, which illustrate the story of the connection between the Maeght family and Joan Miró. The labyrinth is a walk through the mind and imagination of the artist.[2]

History

At the beginning of the 1960s, Joan Miró took an active part in Aimé Maeght's project in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Maeght visited the artist in Cala Major (Majorca), and entrusted Josep Lluís Sert —the architect that designed Barcelona's Fundació Joan Miró— with the project of a building and a garden which included a special space to host artworks by Joan Miró. After a short period of reflection, Miró decided that he would make a labyrinth. He worked together with Josep Artigas and Joan Gardy Artigas to create the ceramic artworks that would be placed in the gardens, and he also worked together with Sert to design the building and surrounding space.[3][4] Afterwards, Miró prepared several mockups of the artworks, which were finally built in marble, concrete, iron, bronze and/or ceramics.[5] Some of the most outstanding artworks are La fourche ("The Fork", built in bronze in 1973) and Le Disque ("The Disk", built in ceramics that same year).

Description

The labyrinth is a garden placed between the mountains and the sea that Miró conceived as a maze.[6] It is organised in three axis: the highest terrace is dominated by a massive concrete arch; a fork on the head of a personage that is hanged up in the air oversees the walkway, and an ancient masonry tower with a ceramic wall made by the artist defines the third axis.[3] The labyrinth tour can be made in any direction, and an hommage to Antoni Gaudí can be found, as there is a round grey ceramic table that reminds of Barcelona's Park Güell.

Among the most outstanding sculptures there are the Solar bird and the Lunar Bird, which neighbour the figure of a giant goddess with the genitalia covered with the shell of a giant tortoise.[7][8] There is also a giant egg, the giant cosmic egg:

L'œuf cosmique polarise les incertitudes de l'ombre et de la lumière. Plus haut, la porte vivante, entre la bête et le dieu. Nous sommes dans l'entre-deux où les possibles hésitent entre histoire et destin.

— Henri Maldiney.[9]

References
  1. Llorens, Tomàs (2008). Miró: Tierra. Madrid: Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza. pp. 176–177.
  2. "Miró in his garden". Fondation Maeght website. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  3. Dupin 1961, p. 320.
  4. Dupin 1993, p. 320.
  5. Prat 2001, p. 236.
  6. Prat 2001, p. 180.
  7. Dupin 1961, p. 321.
  8. Dupin 1993, p. 321.
  9. Maldiney 1961, p. 51-52.

Bibliography
  • Dupin, Jacques (1993). Miró (1a. ed.). Barcelona: Polígrafa. ISBN 84-343-0726-X.
  • Dupin, Jacques (1993). Miró ([Nouv. éd.]. ed.). [Paris]: Flammarion. ISBN 2-08-011744-0.
  • Penrose, Roland (1993). Miró (1. ed.). London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 84-233-1976-8.
  • Prat, Jean-Louis (2001). Joan Miró - métamorphoses des formes : collection de la Fondation Maeght; 1er avril - 25 juin 2001. Saint-Paul: Fondation Maeght. ISBN 2-900923-24-7.

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