Eixample

A giant form protrudes from one end of the Parc de Joan Miró in Barcelona. It is the sculpture Woman and Bird by the Barcelona-born artist Joan Miró. With a little imagination we can make out the female form surmounted by a bird in this imposing, brightly coloured work. The sculpture is one of Barcelona’s iconic artistic landmarks.

A few months before his death, Joan Miró attended the dedication of his urban sculpture Woman and Bird. It was 1983 and Barcelona was entering a new democratic era which opened the doors to public art. It was in this environment that Miró created this huge work in the new park located on the site of the old abattoir. Standing 21 metres tall, the sculpture reminds us of a phallic form. However, it is the presence of a vertical incision that makes us realise that the sculpture clearly alludes to femininity. The original title of the piece was Lady-Mushroom with a Moon Hat. Indeed, the female figure is crowned by a hat and a crescent moon. This is one of the Miroesque depictions of birds, the creatures that connect the earthly world with the world of the stars.

This means that, in order to interpret the sculpture, we have to look at Miró’s iconographic universe, which was often based on the world of dreams and where, once again, the presence of primary and complementary colours is clearly shown. Woman and Bird is covered with yellow, red, green and blue broken ceramic tiles, applied by the ceramicist Joan Gardy Artigas. The sculpture is reflected in a pool and blends in perfectly with the Barcelona park dedicated to the artist Joan Miró.