Shanghai is currently spoiled for choice when it comes to surrealism, with two exhibitions by Salvador Dalí currently in town, along with another focusing on his peer and friend, Joan Miró.

Miró, Dalí and Pablo Picasso were three of the most significant artists from Spain to represent the surrealist art of the 20th century, although it is hard to say precisely how the three influenced each other.

Picasso and Miró were admirers of each other. When they were young, Picasso predicted both would become masters.

Dalí is often compared with Miró due to their different styles in the field of surrealism. Chinese art critic Li Shouqing once said that Dalí's work is like that of a devil, while Miró's is like that of an angel.

He said that, compared with Dalí's absurd, depressive tone, Miró brings people pleasure through imagery that evokes freedom and innocence.

Nearly 100 prints made by Miró are featured at Made in Miró, an interactive exhibition in Shanghai.

The exhibition, which covers Miró's 50 years of making prints, is divided into six sections that offer distinctive ways of examining the artist and his works.

Nearly 100 prints by Miró are featured at Made in Miró. Photos: Sun Shuangjie/GT and courtesy of the exhibition organizer

Basic colors

Throughout his lifetime, Miró depicted almost everything in his constellation of imagery using just a few basic colors, predominantly red, yellow, blue, green, black and white.

One section of the exhibition is turned over to the world of Miró's favorite colors.

Red represents fire, yellow is for brightness, green for the forest, and blue for the ocean, the four elements constituting the fundamental conditions for living beings on Earth.

The section is divided into four irregular spaces, each bathed in lighting in one of these four colors. Visitors can see Miró's works under different hues of lighting, and experience how colors influence perception and feeling.

The exhibition is full of such ingenious approaches. In another section, viewers are faced with three mirrors fixed on the opposite wall.

As they walk from one mirror to the next, their reflections change from a normal shape to a wavy figure and then an image from Miró's Acrobats in the Night Garden.

"Through this direct experience of seeing how a figure can change from representational to abstract, visitors can get an understanding of Miró's surrealist works, which address real things in life," said Xu Yansheng, a consultant for the exhibition.

The mural depicting Miró's life and the evolution of his artistic style at the entrance of the exhibition, created by an Australian artist, is also well worth seeing.

In Miró's works, there are some signature recurring images, such as a woman, a bird and a star.

The three images also characterize his famous painting series Constellations, the spirit of which as explained by his grandson is "a sublime break," "a door to escape," and "salvation."

One section of the exhibition audaciously turns the ceiling into a mysterious constellation of Miró's signature images, and has a floor covered with artificial lawn on which visitors can sit or lie to appreciate Miró's spirit.

Practical experience

As an exhibition dedicated to Miró's artistic prints, Made in Miró also spends much effort to introduce the craftsmanship behind their creation.

In the 1940s, the artist started to create a large amount of prints and set up a studio to make them.

One section of the exhibition reproduces a scene from a print-making studio (pictured bottom), in which visitors can see the tools and machines used to make prints.

By operating a machine on-site, visitors can gain a basic understanding of the time-consuming process and labor that goes into making prints.

Outside the exhibition, people can also sign up for print-making workshops, which will be supervised by an English-speaking teacher.

Altogether, Made in Miró offers a rather audience-friendly experience through its curatorial method, and its on-site guides also help distinguish it from many other art exhibitions in the city.

Date: Until January 3, 10 am to 9 pm

Venue: Réel Shanghai Department Store

Address: 4/F, 1601 Nanjing Road West

南京西路1601号4楼

Admission: 100 yuan ($15.72) to 120 yuan

Call 2230-9788 for details