Join The Collection to save, track, and explore works like this.

Joan Miró — Miró's Chicago
Joan Miró

Miró's Chicago

1981

This monumental bronze sculpture rises against the Chicago skyline as an iconic public artwork, its silhouette combining biomorphic and totemic forms characteristic of Surrealist abstraction. The composition stacks organic shapes vertically: a bulbous base suggesting a figure or vessel, a four-pointed star form at its center, and an upturned fork-like crown that gestures skyward, all rendered in stark black patina. Created from bronze, ceramic, and concrete, the work achieves dramatic presence through its bold simplification of form and commanding scale, visible from across the city. The sculpture exemplifies the artist's vocabulary of playful yet enigmatic symbols, inviting multiple interpretations while maintaining a distinctly whimsical, almost totemic quality. Positioned prominently in an urban plaza overlooking the expansive cityscape and distant hills, it functions as both monument and conversation piece, engaging viewers with its deceptively simple yet deeply evocative formal language. Photo: Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA

Medium
Bronze, ceramic, concrete

Start the Discussion

Request access to join the discussion

About this work

Joan Miró, Miró's Chicago, 1981

This monumental bronze sculpture rises against the Chicago skyline as an iconic public artwork, its silhouette combining biomorphic and totemic forms characteristic of Surrealist abstraction. The composition stacks organic shapes vertically: a bulbous base suggesting a figure or vessel, a four-pointed star form at its center, and an upturned fork-like crown that gestures skyward, all rendered in stark black patina. Created from bronze, ceramic, and concrete, the work achieves dramatic presence through its bold simplification of form and commanding scale, visible from across the city. The sculpture exemplifies the artist's vocabulary of playful yet enigmatic symbols, inviting multiple interpretations while maintaining a distinctly whimsical, almost totemic quality. Positioned prominently in an urban plaza overlooking the expansive cityscape and distant hills, it functions as both monument and conversation piece, engaging viewers with its deceptively simple yet deeply evocative formal language. Photo: Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA

Medium
Bronze, ceramic, concrete
Year
1981
Seen at
Brunswick Plaza

Related themes

Urban Plaza, Modernist Abstract, Twentieth Century, Black Silhouette, Ceramic Bronze, Figurative Abstract, Bronze Sculpture, Chicago Landmark, Public Art, Totemic Symbol, Mixed Media, Outdoor Monumental, Contemporary Sculpture, European Modernism, Playful Abstraction, Iconic Landmark, Surrealist Forms, Large Scale, Sky Gesture, Biomorphic

More works by Joan Miró

Collected by

Hamilton Selway Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago, Alex Capecelatro, Carolyn Lynx