Joan Miró is known for his inventive approach to art, combining abstract and early Surrealist styles to produce expressive works. Rather than making something look real, he conveyed the essence of his subject matter with energetic lines and vibrant colors. In this activity, we’ll take a close look at Miró’s print People and Animals and create something of our own inspired by his style!
Discuss with These Questions:
- Miró entitled this artwork People and Animals. Which lines and colors look like people to you? Which ones make you think of animals?
- How are the people and animals interacting?
- What colors do you notice? Where do the colors repeat?
- Look closely at the lines in this artwork and list the types that you see. Are they thick or thin? Curly or straight? Long or short?
Get Creative: Create Your Own Art with Two Objects
Keep thinking about interactions, colors, and lines as you make your own work of art inspired by Joan Miró’s style. Make sure you have some paper and pencils and anything else you want to use to add some color to your artwork (markers, crayons, colored pencils, etc.).
- Choose two different objects that relate to one another in some way—for example, cereal and fruit, sinkholes and buses, or bridges and rivers! Think about how your objects will interact within your work of art.
- Which colors do you associate with your objects? How will you use these colors to signify your objects?
- What types of lines best represent your objects? How will you use these lines to signify your objects?
- Look at Miró’s work again and notice the background. After you draw your objects, look at the empty space on your page. Challenge yourself to fill this space with new kinds of lines!