Fundació Joan Miró

Surrealist masterpieces in a mountaintop museum
Word to the wise: After visiting the museum, take the cable car from Montjuïc Hill to Barceloneta for amazing views of the city and harbour. See www.telefericodebarcelona.com for details.

Talk of the town: In the 1970s Miró created a tapestry for the World Trade Centre in New York, which was lost in the 9/11 attacks.
Along with Gaudí and Picasso, the surrealist artist Joan Miró is one of the great creative geniuses associated with Barcelona - and unlike the other two, he was actually born here, in the Gothic Quarter. Although he later moved to Palma, before his death in 1983 he requested to be buried in Montjuïc, near to the location of this museum dedicated to his work.

The striking modern building houses more than 14,000 pieces, including drawings, paintings, sculptures, ceramics and tapestries, mostly donated by Miró on the condition that space be reserved for the work of new artists.

Miró also endowed his native city with lots of public art: a ceramic embedded in the pavement halfway down La Ramblas; a mural at the airport and, in Parc Joan Miró, his incredible mosaic sculpture Woman and Bird. Even the blue starfish in the logo of La Caixa bank is taken from one of his tapestries.