Last train to Joan Miró

Over the course of this century, several airports have been renamed after cultural icons. The Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans, the John Lennon Airport in Liverpool, the Leoš Janáček Airport in Ostrava, the Ian Fleming Airport in Boscobel (Jamaica), and the Saint Exupéry Airport in Lyon have joined a list that already includes the Leonardo Da Vinci Airport in Rome, the WA Mozart Airport in Salzburg, and the Antônio Carlos Jobim Airport in Rio.

The magic of these names breathes life into those inhospitable city terminals. How many passengers have hummed Imagine , Desafinado , or the aria from the Queen of the Night during their tedious airport transit after reading the names of their composers on the signs, while other travelers searched in vain in the sky for the trail of The Little Prince 's final flight?

La Sagrera Station-Joan Miró? Barcelona would be associated with its most universal artist.

Linking poets, composers, and painters to the idea of ​​flight is an elegant way to give wings to their legacy. Geniuses whose art traveled the world to meet sensitive souls deserve to live on, associated with the notion of travel, always dynamic and conducive to overcoming barriers between human beings.

It was Lluís Permanyer who had the brilliant idea of ​​renaming El Prat after the universally beloved Barcelona native Joan Miró . It was a proposal that didn't require much argument: the artist's generosity toward his city, to which he donated invaluable works and a foundation now celebrating its 50th anniversary, is well documented—by the chronicler himself. So it was a matter of returning the favor.

Last decade, La Vanguardia , in collaboration with the Fundació Miró, attempted to revive the initiative . The effort was in vain: in the end, the political agenda prevailed, and El Prat Airport became forever associated with Josep Tarradellas, just as Madrid Airport commemorates Adolfo Suárez, or JFK Airport, the assassinated president. It must be said that El Prat Airport met with very mixed critical and public success.

But life sometimes offers new opportunities. It will be remembered that Joan Miró—as the artist himself explained to Permanyer—bequeathed to Barcelona the Rambla mosaic, designed to welcome travelers arriving by boat; the mural in the current Terminal 2, for those arriving by plane; and the sculpture Dona i Ocell, for those arriving by car.

It's curious, isn't it, that Miró ignored the visitors arriving by train? If he had, he would surely have created some work for the França station. Why didn't he? Perhaps, and this is just a guess, he ignored it because, at the height of the popularity of the automotive and commercial aviation industries, the artist thought, back in the 1970s, that the railways were going to become obsolete.

Half a century later, the reality is different. Trains are gaining market share from airplanes, and automobiles face an uncertain future. Moreover, on a symbolic level—one that so motivates artists—railways today represent the much-needed idea of ​​a united and prosperous Europe.

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It is in this context that Barcelona is preparing to inaugurate, in a few years, its brand-new Sagrera station, a terminal that could well be called, why not, La Sagrera-Joan Miró. Taking advantage of this opportunity would serve to express our gratitude, with clarity, for this artist's extraordinary generosity toward his city.

It would be unfair to say that the city has turned its back on Miró, as it has on Salvador Dalí. On the contrary, the Barcelona of Miró is rich and diverse. Miró has a park, a street, a library, and a school in the city. His work is well represented, the foundation promotes his legacy well, and every time the MNAC holds a press conference, his magnificent Mural for IBM is featured in newspapers and television.

But naming the new central station, through which millions of people will pass, Joan Miró would have a high emotional value. And we already know how emotions influence our perception of cities. If we're dreaming, it would be inspiring to hear, over the train speakers, "next station, La Sagrera—Joan Miró." Welcome to the city of Miró's wonders.

The project Living with Salvador Dalí

In 2021, municipal groups agreed that Salvador Dalí should be included in the Barcelona street calendar. Eighteen years earlier, it was almost a given that the genius from Figueres would give his name to the large square planned for La Sagrera station. But delays in its construction meant the idea was forgotten. Dalí, who placed the center of the universe right in Perpignan station, deserves to be remembered in that square: alongside Miró, who also embraced surrealism in his time.

The legacy Illuminator of the city

In the final years of the Franco dictatorship, "Miró is one of the figures who best represents the progressive enlightenment of the city." Josep Ramoneda affirms this in his De Miró a Barcelona (From Miró to Barcelona, ​​2014). In his opinion, his works Mural de l'Aeroport (1970) and the Mosaic del Pla de l'Os were signs of the future that Barcelona offered to the world, as well as symbols of identification with the city itself. The opening of the Fundació Miró in 1975 would consolidate this connection with Barcelona.

The attitude No concessions to Francoism

As we approach the half-century celebration of the opening of the Fundació Miró, it is worth remembering that, despite his generous connection to Barcelona, ​​the artist born in the Passage du Crèdit did not hold back on his gestures against the Franco regime. Josep Massot recalls in Joan Miró, The Boy Who Spoke to the Trees (Galaxia Gutenberg) that the artist did not attend the inauguration of his foundation on June 10, 1975, because the dictator was still alive. He did not attend until after the latter's death.