Joan Brossa

Joan Brossa (1919–1998) was a Catalan poet, playwright, and visual artist, a key figure in the Spanish avant-garde and Catalan culture of the 20th century. His work broke down the boundaries between disciplines by fusing poetry, visual arts, and theater in an experimental, ironic, and often political language.

Born in Barcelona, the son of an engraver, his youth was marked by the Spanish Civil War, in which he fought on the Republican side, an experience that profoundly influenced his thinking and artistic creation. In 1948, he co-founded the surrealist group and magazine Dau al Set, along with artists such as Antoni Tàpies, and maintained a close creative relationship with Joan Miró.

Brossa transcended traditional poetry by creating object-poems, visual poetry, conceptual poetry, and experimental theater, championing the idea of "total poetry" in which all the arts formed part of a single expressive reality. His work combined minimalism, humor, social critique, and formal provocation, with influences from Surrealism and Dadaism.

Although international recognition came late in life, in his later years he exhibited at major institutions such as the Reina Sofía Museum and the Miró Foundation, and his work was translated into numerous languages. After his death, his legacy lives on through the Joan Brossa Foundation, established in 1999, and collections such as that of the MACBA, which preserve and promote one of the most innovative bodies of work in contemporary European art.