Last weekend I had the pleasure to visit an art exhibition after a long time not being in museum at all: The Paul Klee Museum in Bern, Switzerland: Joan Miró – New Beginnings. What a stunning exhibition. I was blown away by some of the art works and also by the explanation of the process of how some of these oeuvres were created.

In 1956, Miró moved into his spacious studio in Palma. He had numerous works from the previous twenty years transported to the new studio and instead of beginning to paint immediately, Miró revisited his existing work. He did not create any new paintings for several years:
“In the new studio I had enough space for the first time. I was able to unpack crates of works that went back years and years. I had not seen these things since leaving Paris before the war. When I finally unpacked them in Mallorca, I went through a process of self-examination.”

This piece fascinated me the most:

In this painting, Miró painted over a copy of a preparatory drawing for a 1937 painting. This pencil drawing is a self-portrait. In 1960, the artist painted over the drawing with a figure made of a few brush strokes and some splashes of colour. With the overpainting, Miró contrasts the earlier drawing style and this is an example of the new artistic attitude he would continue to develop in his late work.

How cool is that? You look at some of your work you have started some year ago and realise you have outgrown your former self and instead of denying or rejecting this, you integrate the old and create something completely new. 

This reminds me a lot of Ken Wilber’s approach in personal development, where each step both transcends and includes the previous step. One must identify with a new level, disidentify & transcend the lower, then
include & integrate the lower into the higher.

When have you re-examined the last time a piece of your older work? Are you as bold as Miró to contemplate in a non-judgmental way what your younger self has created and then use a few strokes and a splash of colour to create something new more fitting to your current self? 

Well done Miró, well done! I wish I had your courage more often.