Miquel Barceló is a Spanish artist born in 1957 in Mallorca, Spain. He began his art studies at the School of Arts and Crafts in Palma de Mallorca and gained international recognition after participating in Documenta 7 in Germany in 1982. Barceló works in various mediums including painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, and cast iron. Some of his most notable works include his watercolors illustrating Dante's Divine Comedy shown at the Louvre, making him the youngest artist ever exhibited there, and his latest art installation at the UN Palace of Nations in Geneva.

1. MiquelBarceló By Megan Maslonka

2. Life of Miquel Barceló Miquel Barceló was born on January 8th 1957 in Felanitx, Mallorca. His mother inspired him to become an artist. At the age of 15 he enrolled at the School of Arts and Crafts in Palma de Mallorca for classes in drawing and modelling. His participation at the "Documenta 7", Kassel, Germany, in 1982 gained him international recognition. In 2004 Barceló's watercolours, illustrating Dante's Divine Comedy were shown at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Thus, he became the youngest artist ever shown in this museum.

3. Historical Period He was early into the ecological movement, trying to prevent biological degradation; Man and Nature is one of his recurring themes. He was born in 1957, under the dictatorship in Spain. He now lives under the new Spain democracy.

4. Pictorial Movement Miquel participated in the happenings and actions of protest of the group "Taller Lunatic", a conceptual avantgarde group. Art Brut and American abstract influenced Barceló's work. He found his own way of expression by simplifying and reducing different "-isms" of the last decade, but he has never abandoned the sanctified rules of conventional painting such as "chiaroscuro.” Chiaroscuro: the distribution of light and shade in a picture. Very versatile, Miquel’s works constisted of paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics and cast irons. His art is realist and abstract.

5. Room XX Miquel’s latest art installation in the UN’s Palace of Nations in Geneva. Present.

6. Elefandret Made of clay and bronze, constructed in 2007. Inspired by Barceló’s frequent stays in West Africa, where he has been a regular visitor since 1988 and where he has had a home.

7. Tresics The painting was sold at an auction for 1.5 million euros, the highest price ever paid for a Barceló work in a public sale. The estimated price was between 475,000 and 713,000 euros. The buyer, whose identity is still unknown, paid more than double for it. ‘Tresics’ was painted in 1990 and belongs to a series with a common theme: bullfighting. The attention is on the bull arena while the audience is blurred. Barceló experiments with centrifuge force to increase the scene’s drama effect. In fact, Barceló always saw many parallelisms with painting in bullfighting and he takes the theme very personally.

8. Catedral de Palma This is the reformation of the Saint Peter's chapel (known as the "Santísimo"). The creation of this masterpiece, carried out between 2001 and 2006, is composed of a 300 square meter ceramic mural that represents the miracle of the distribution of the bread and fish according to the Gospel of Saint John. Barceló produced the ceramic mural in Naples, collaborating ceramist VincenzoSantoriello. Barceló’s work also includes five 12-meter high stain-glass windows.