JOAN MIRÓ I EL MÓN D'UBÚ

The bibliophile book Ubu roi, which belongs to the Es Baluard collection, is a starting point for introducing us to the Miró-like evocations of the Ubu character, created by the playwright Alfred Jarry (Laval, France 1873 – Paris, 1907). The fascination Joan Miró (Barcelona, 1893 – Palma, 1983) had for this character, a symbol of tyranny, began with his arrival in Paris, and developed throughout his lengthy career. This exhibition brings together the enthralment with this character and his author.

Jarry and Miró share elements in common – the interest in things popular, the most direct while at the same time cruellest and most grotesque form of surrealism, and a total freedom of expression that breaks all the conventions. The performance Mori el Merma, a theatre play resulting from Joan Miró's collaboration with the Claca group, was the culmination of the great Catalan artist’s fascination with Jarry's hero. In this play Ubu (Merma), a prototype of a coarse and bloodthirsty dictator, becomes a metaphor for Franco.

The central core of the exhibition are the bibliophile books: Ubu roi (1966) with 13 lithographs that accompanied Alfred Jarry’s play, Ubu aux Baléares (1971) with politically surrealist texts by Miró and 23 lithographs, and L'enfance d'Ubu (1975) with texts by the artist based on popular Majorcan oaths and obscenities, accompanied by 23 lithographs. We can also see one of the figures constructed by the Claca out of these three books and painted by Joan Miró, the Merma, as well as part of the set. Miró conceived these works in his Son Abrines workshop, in Cala Major, and it was also in this workshop where he received Joan Baixas for the first time, director of the play and founder together with Teresa Calafell of Putxinel·lis Claca. Mori el Merma was premiered in the Teatre Principal in Palma on March 7th 1978, and the following June in the Liceu in Barcelona, causing a certain stir, since it touched on a theme which was still taboo: the Franco dictatorship. All of this forms a part of our recent history and is documented in the exhibition.

Location- Hall: Floor -1
Production: Es Baluard Museu d'Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma