Miró and the United States
At the end of his life, Joan Miró maintained, “It was really American painting that inspired me.”
Co-organized with the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, Miró and the United States explores the vibrant exchanges between Catalan artist Joan Miró (1893-1983) and the burgeoning American art scene in a pivotal moment of 20th-century art. This little-known yet decisive period of connection between Miró and American artists—including Alexander Calder, Louise Bourgeois, Lee Krasner, Norman Lewis, Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, and Adolph Gottlieb—was influential in the development of post-war art on both sides of the Atlantic.
For Miró, the United States represented new audiences and creative freedom. He had retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1941 and 1959, and traveled to the US seven times between 1947 and 1968, during which he met artists in their studios, collaborated on prints and architectural projects, and closely followed exhibitions at galleries and museums. Featuring 75 works by more than 30 artists, this exhibition reframes Miró’s legacy, revealing how his dream-like pictures evolved through artistic dialogue and experimentation with his American counterparts.
Featured Artists
Louise Bourgeois
Alexander Calder
Elaine de Kooning
Willem de Kooning
Perle Fine
Sam Francis
Herbert Ferber
Helen Frankenthaler
Arshile Gorky
Adolph Gottlieb
Grace Hartigan
Franz Kline
Lee Krasner
Norman Lewis
Len Lye
Alice Trumbull Mason
Peter Miller
Joan Mitchell
Joan Miró
Robert Motherwell
Louise Nevelson
Barnett Newman
Isamu Noguchi
Alfonso Ossorio
Jackson Pollock
Jeanne Reynal
Mark Rothko
Rufino Tamayo
Sonja Sekula
Theodoros Stamos
Janet Sobel
Michael Corinne West
IMAGE: Joan Miró, Chiffres et contellations amoureux d’un femme from the Constellations Series, 1959, 18 3/4 x 15 in., Book with 1 lithograph and 22 reproductions heightened with pochoir, Fundació Joan Miró © Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris 2026
Jackson Pollock, Eyes in the Heat, 1946
Helen Frankenthaler, Canyon, 1965
Louise Nevelson, Archaic Figure with a Star on Her Head, 1949-50
Joan Miró, Femme et oiseaux au lever du soleil (Woman and Birds at Sunrise), 1946
This exhibition is organized for The Phillips Collection by Elsa Smithgall, in collaboration with Marko Daniel, Matthew Gale, and Dolors Rodríguez Roig, at the Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona.
The Phillips Collection gratefully acknowledges Northern Trust as the Presenting Sponsor of Miró and the United States in Washington, DC.
Special thanks to the Estate of Toni A. Ritzenberg for lead support of this exhibition.
Essential support is provided by Dina and George Perry as well as the Ednah Root Foundation.
This exhibition is also made possible by The Kristina and William Catto Foundation, John and Gina Despres, Robert and Debra Drumheller, The Marion F. Goldin Charitable Fund, Paul W. Killian and Carole Goodson, Susan Lee and Stephen Saltzburg, and Reid Walker.
Additional support is provided by Dr. Heather McPherson.
With thanks to the international tour sponsors of Miró and the United States
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