The Museu Nacional celebrates Miró’s 50th anniversary with Pair of lovers sculpture

The MNAC joins the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Fundació Miró and, starting September 25, hosts in the Dome Hall the sculpture Pair of lovers playing with almond blossoms.

This piece is the preparatory model for the large polyester sculpture that Joan Miró created for the modern La Défense district in Paris, inaugurated in 1978. At MNAC, we see it displayed alongside the mural that the artist made in the same year, together with Joan Gardy Artigas, for the IBM technology company building. Sculpture and mural meet under the dome painted in 1929 by Miró’s former teacher, Francesc d’A. Galí.

Both works allow us to appreciate how Miró envisioned the coexistence of his work with modern architecture, and how the color and energy of his art contrast with the precision and geometric clarity of a rationalist, functional environment. The two human figures of Pair of lovers playing with almond blossoms stand out for their vivid colors and act as mediators between human scale and architecture. Through this intervention in public space, Miró fulfills his desire to integrate sculpture into its surroundings and bring art closer to people.