Pilar & Joan Miró Foundation

Situated in the harbor area of Palma, namely in Cala Major, you will find the amazing exhibition hall dedicated to famous surrealist, Joan Miró.

The Joan Miró foundation was established by famous Catalan artist, Joan Miró (1893-1983) and his Mallorcan wife Pilar Juncosa i Iglesias (1904-1995).

Miró chose a life in Mallorca back in 1956. By the time, his good friend, Catalan architect Josep Lluís Sert (1902-1983), built his new house, the Son Abrines. From Son Abrines, the adventure started, and the rise of a world famous artist had begun.

Thanks to an award given by the Guggenhiem museum in New York, in 1959, Miró could afford to buy the house next door, called Son Boter.

Son Boter became a place of experimentation, a laboratory of creativity. Here, Miró experimented with etching and graffiti.

In 1981, Miró decided to donate his entire studio and all of his works to the new foundation that he and Pilar had established. He did this because it meant a lot to him that his studio was preserved, as well as he wanted a continuous expansion of the knowledge of arts.

In 1986, two years after Miró’s death, Pilar chose to sell a great collection of her husband’s works in order to fund a new building for the foundation. The assignment of designing this new building was given to the chairman of Harvard University of Design, MR. José Rafael Moneo Vallés. The construction was executed in the years between 1985 and 1990.