Last Sunday, the Miró Foundation experienced something that had not been possible for decades: to contemplate the collection with natural light, just as the painter and architect Josep Lluís Sert conceived it in the 60s and 70s. The building was originally intended to maintain an inside-outside dialogue in which the variability of natural light would be part of the exhibition.
But very soon, the foundation's managers realized that natural light affected the paintings, so the decision had to be made to close the ceiling skylights using a system of louvered curtains and visit the collection with artificial light. This closure finally took a break on Sunday.
Coinciding with the summer solstice, the Miró Foundation opened the skylights for the first time since they were closed shortly after the inauguration in June 1975. It was a historic experience for the 160 people who were able to enjoy it in four shifts from 6 in the morning until shortly after 10.
In addition, the choice of the solstice turned the event almost into a magical and mystical ritual. One had the feeling of being like in Stonehenge witnessing the sunrise just to the left of the heel stone. In this case, it was not about witnessing the spectacle of the solstitial alignments of the megalithic monument, but about experiencing Joan Miró's work as he imagined it.
It was truly a very special visit. Already before 6 in the morning there was a queue of curious people waiting for the early opening. Each of the four visits was guided by an architect from the El Globus Vermell collective. The tour through the different rooms allowed to highlight how natural light, the Catalan voltes reinterpreted by Sert, and the interior patios guide the visitor through the museum. The route ended in the sculpture room, conceived as such from its origin so that again natural light and the space itself would allow contemplating the works from any angle of their three dimensions.
From that moment on, the solstitial visitor could complete the visit independently. Access to the upper floor and the rooftop was an opportunity to understand the lighting system through the building's model and the direct view of the skylights and their curtain system. Before, one could already admire how works such as the triptych L'esperança del condemnat a mort, Miró's homage to Salvador Puig Antich, or the equally emblematic Sobreteixim dels vuit paraigües transmit with natural light.
Marko Daniel, director of the foundation, expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the initiative, to the point of considering repeating it next summer solstice and even in winter. These exceptional and controlled openings would be part of the museum's projection strategy to the city through experiences that go beyond a mere visit to the collection.
Sunday's event was, at its core, a tribute to the most genuine Miró and to the architecture of a Sert who could not sign his building due to his disqualification by the Franco regime. The architect insisted that the Fundació Miró should be erected on a new site, not taking advantage of an existing building. And, for this, there was no better place than Montjuïc, where Sert, always in agreement with the painter, deployed his genius with a project of clear Mediterranean inspiration, where elements such as the aforementioned patios, skylights, and voltes would allow light to imprint character and identity. Thus, the building itself became part of the exhibition and not a mere container.
Thanks to all of the above, the Fundació Miró, with its white color and Mediterranean forms, integrates into the mountain landscape, it does not alter it. Even on Sunday, we discovered that it integrates so much that it even dialogues with the solstice, turning Sert's building into the Stonehenge of Montjuïc on this date.