Both artists were Catalans rather than Spaniards – they were strongly attached to their homeland, although they were active mainly abroad. Nine years older than Dali, Joan Miró went to Paris as a 27-year-old; four years later, he joined the surrealists’ movement and remained attached to the city until the end.
Dali became a surrealist in the early 1930s; he made a huge career overseas and returned to Europe in the late 1940s. Miró was his older colleague and certainly an inspiration, but his fascinations included Catalan folk art and characteristic Spanish colour schemes, whereas Dali drew upon many styles – from academic style to strongly avant-garde style, and symbolism played a very important part in his works.
Today both Salvador Dali and Joan Miró are regarded as masters of the 20th century, and each of them developed his own unique painting style, although Miró pursued also sculpture and ceramics.
Two parallel exhibitions of two surrealists are available to visitors in two facilities of the City Museum of Wroclaw. They have lasted since July 2022, and the last day on which you can watch Dali’s works (in the City Hall) and Miró’s works (in the Royal Palace) will be Sunday 28th May 2023. It is worth taking the chance – it may not happen quickly again in Wroclaw, and the works are interesting.
At the exhibition of Salvador Dali in the City Hall, you can see several series created by him. They include true pearls, such as illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, or for Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Particularly spicy is a series of Dali’s works on Pantagruel – one of the title protagonists of the famous novel by François Rabelais.
In the grand hall, we will also come across a set of... recipes for immortality or an extravagant medical trunk. Most works date back to 1955–1975, but two series created in the 1930s are shown, too.
The exhibition Style – Colour – Line with 80 works by Joan Miró will be shown in the Royal Palace. Its main part consists of works (mainly book graphics) from the collection of Heinz Ess – a private collector, a retired German doctor, a friend of Maciej Łagiewski, the director of the City Museum of Wroclaw. Ess makes a part of his rich collection available from time to time – there is an opportunity to admire them until 28th May 2023.
Apart from that, you can watch also four works (gallery prints of the biggest format located opposite the entrance to the exhibition) owned by a private Wroclaw collector who preferred to remain anonymous.
The title of the exhibition refers to the three most important elements to which Joan Miró was always faithful. His most characteristic style, evoking associations with children’s drawings, took shape in the 1920s and 1930s; at that time, he created popular harlequins and showed a world of strange creatures in his works. After the war, he departed from this style. Style, colour and line remained his trademark.
Tickets to exhibitions of Salvador Dali and Joan Miró
Opening hours of exhibitions:
- Wed–Sat: 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- Sun: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Tickets to Salvador Dali’s exhibition in the City Hall cost 10 PLN (reduced ticket, group ticket – max. 20 persons), 15 PLN (normal ticket) and 30 PLN (family ticket).
Tickets to Joan Miró’s exhibition in the Royal Palace cost 20 PLN (reduced ticket), 30 PLN (normal ticket) and 60 PLN (family ticket). Tickets bought to Joan Miró’s exhibition allow visitors to attend Salvador Dali’s exhibition, too.
