Born to a Spanish goldsmith and watchmaker, Michel Miró Adziras, and mother Dolores Ferra , Joan Miro grew to adore art from a tender age. He was born and raised in the city of Montroig, which is located near the Catalan capital. The earliest record of his work traces back to a sketchbook from 1905 (His sketchbooks of 1905 contain nature studies from Tarragona and Palma de Majorca, both areas in Spain) when he was eight years old . Through-out primary school he enrolled in artistic courses, although he excelled in these courses, he did poorly in his other core subjects. In 1907 he enrolled into the Lonja School of Fine Arts in Barcelona. Miro's instructor was a man by the name of José Pascó who assisted in improving Miro's Technic, and was also successful in instilling an sense of interest in sculpture for the young Miro. His training, however, was shortened by his parents whom, although being craftsmen themselves, desired for their firstborn son to become an accountant. In 1910 he became a clerk, but after two years went back to his first love,art, after only two years. He continued to pursue a career in art, enrolling into Gali's School of Art, run by Francesco Gali in 1912. After attending Gali's school for three years he transferred to Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc. Between 1910-1919 Miro began to discover different genres of art, the modern art movements taking place in Western Europe, and was also introduced to many Catalan poets. He yearned to study the artistic works of contemporary artist. During this time a majority of Joan Miro's art works were landscapes of countrysides, nudes, and still-lifes. 1918, was Miro's debut solo exhibition at the Daluma Galleries. Before this event, his interest expanded towards bright, bold colors of the French Fauvism (A style of painting with vivid expressionistic use of color that flourished in Paris in the early 20th century), and the fractured, geometric compositions of the cubanist. In the 1920's he traveled to Paris, France and met Pablo Picasso, who is another famous artist from Spain. While he lived in Paris he was poor, but Picasso introduced him to some of the most influential artist at that time, and his career was able to grow. He continued to live in Paris during winters and summers in his home town Montroig. During his stay in Paris, he started to get into surrealism. Although he grew as an artist, he was poor often going to sleep hungry at night.
"When discussing his life during those first lean, early years in Paris, the artist quipped, "How did I think up my drawings and my ideas for painting? Well, I'd come home to my Paris studio in Rue Blomet at night, I'd go to bed, and sometimes I hadn't had any supper." It seems that physical deprivation enlivened the young Miró's imagination. "I saw things," he explained, "and I jotted them down in a notebook. I saw shapes on the ceiling..."" (Ashley Remer)
'"When I first knew Miró," Ernest Hemingway wrote in 1934, "he had very little money and very little to eat, and he worked all day every day for nine months painting a very large and wonderful picture called The Farm..."' (Adams)
In 1929 Miro married Pilar Juncosa, a artists model. Their first and only child, a daughter by the name of Dolores was born in 1931. During these years his career flourished and he began to have exhibits in both France and the United States. As a result of the World War in 1941, most of his works have traces of warfare and political tension were prominent themes in his art during this period; his canvases became increasingly grotesque and brutal. Fast forward to 1972, Joan Miro created The Joan Miró foundation, Center for Study of Contemporary Art. He donated all of his paintings, sculptors, drawings, textiles, and crematics. For years, Miro suffered with a heart disease that eventually killed him on Dec. 25, 1983.