Fundació Miró Mallorca

Fundació Miró Mallorca is an art museum in Palma de Mallorca dedicated to the work of Joan Miró, built on the very site where the artist lived and worked for nearly three decades.

Why did Miró set up his studio on Mallorca?

Joan Miró moved to Palma in 1956, drawn by the island's Mediterranean setting and the chance to build a large, purpose-made studio. His friend, the Catalan-Spanish architect Josep Lluís Sert, designed it for him — the building known today as Estudi Sert became the centre of the artist's creative work on the island. Three years later Miró bought the neighbouring Son Boter, an eighteenth-century Mallorcan house, and turned it into a second workspace, fitting out an engraving and lithography workshop and leaving murals and sketches drawn directly onto its walls.

How was the foundation created, and who designed it?

After the artist's death, his wife, Pilar Juncosa, established the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca in 1981 to preserve his legacy and open the place where he actually worked to the public. A new, purpose-built exhibition wing was designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo and completed in 1992. Since then the complex has combined this modern exhibition building with the original, largely untouched Sert and Son Boter studios.

What can visitors see at the museum?

The foundation holds a collection of roughly 6,000 works donated by the artist himself — paintings, sculptures, drawings and sketches spanning different periods of his career. Alongside the main exhibition building, the grounds include a sculpture garden and a library. The Sert studio remains largely as Miró left it, with materials, easels and unfinished pieces still in place for visitors to see. At Son Boter, the wall paintings and sketches Miró drew directly onto the plaster stand out, showing how he experimented with form before transferring ideas to canvas.

Where exactly is the foundation located?

The museum sits in Palma de Mallorca, slightly apart from the dense old town, which let the site keep a quiet, garden-like character rather than the tight urban fabric found elsewhere in the city. For anyone interested in 20th-century art and modernist architecture, it's one of the island's essential stops, pairing artistic significance with the history of the place itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Fundació Miró Mallorca the same as the house Miró lived in? The foundation covers the grounds where the artist's studios stood — Estudi Sert and Son Boter — plus a new museum building added after his death. It isn't a reconstruction; it's Miró's actual workplace, preserved largely in its original state.

Who designed the foundation's buildings? The Sert studio was designed by Josep Lluís Sert, a friend of the artist, during Miró's lifetime. The main museum building, opened in 1992, was designed by architect Rafael Moneo.

How many works are in the collection? The foundation's collection holds around 6,000 works donated by Joan Miró, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and sketches.

What's the difference between the Son Boter studio and Estudi Sert? Son Boter is the older, eighteenth-century house Miró bought as a second studio — it housed an engraving and lithography workshop, and its walls carry murals and sketches the artist painted directly onto the plaster, still visible today.