The “la Caixa” Foundation exhibits for the first time in four decades its Miró tapestry to restore it for the general public, who will also have the opportunity to contemplate the back of this emblematic work and learn about its creation process.
Entitled “Miró’s Star”, the project aims to highlight the importance of textile art in the career of Joan Miró and the processes of conservation and restoration of a work of art, and revalues the textile technique, as well as the work of Josep Royo’s team of collaborators, formed mainly by weavers, unknown protagonists when talking about the tapestry.
Miró and Royo worked together learning techniques from each other and created 7 large wall tapestries and 32 small-format tapestries, called sobreteixims, works that are halfway between painting, collage and tapestry. La Farinera, an old factory in Tarragona, became the experimental space for most of these pieces.
At the end of the seventies, the bank commissioned Miró to renew its image and the commission became a large tapestry, 5 meters long by 2 meters high and weighing more than 200 kilos.
The work inaugurated the Science Museum of Barcelona, now CosmoCaixa, where it was exhibited until 1984, when it was moved to what was the headquarters of the bank “la Caixa”, where only its employees and visitors have been able to enjoy it for the last 38 years.
Miró’s star. Live restoration of the tapestry. Organization and production, at CaixaForum Barcelona from March 28 to May 21, 2022. Free visit with reservation.
Image courtesy of Fundació “la Caixa”: Joan Miró and Josep Royo at the Farinera, with the model and the tapestry of Fundació “la Caixa”. Tarragona, October 1980 © Fons F. Català-Roca – Arxiu Històric del Col-legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya.