130 Joan Miró works from Mallorca on show in Bologna

Joan Miró moved to Mallorca in 1956 at age 63, seeking a quiet natural environment for his art. He first worked in a studio designed by architect Josep Lluís Sert, then in the 18th-century Son Boter house. After his death, his prolific output of paintings, sculptures, lithographs, and graffiti formed the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró collection of about 5,000 pieces. Now, 130 works from that collection—including around 100 oil paintings—are exhibited at Palazzo Albergati in Bologna, focusing solely on the artist's last three decades. Since 1927, Miró aimed to "assassinate painting," aligning with Surrealists and later influenced by Abstract Expressionism and Eastern calligraphy. He never abandoned his passion for primitive art forms like Catalan cave paintings and medieval frescoes. The exhibition includes large paintings created on the ground using hands and drips, akin to Pollock, as well as ceramic sculptures and artist books combining drawing with poetry. Over time, his forms and palettes simplified, with black lines intensifying and leading to powerful monochrome canvases. Birds, women with sharp breasts, fish, and hybrid figures populate surfaces alongside stars and pure blues, reds, yellows, or greens. This show follows monographic exhibitions in Rome and Genoa by Arthemisia and will travel to Turin in autumn.