Fundació Joan Brossa

»Joan Brossa at "Els Furiosos", el Montnegre 1948

»Joan Brossa in the 1960s at the studio of Antoni Tàpies

»Fregoli,, about the end of the 19th century. Framed poster, letters with artist's name (black & white)

»Poster for Fregoli's train: G. Galli, "The 9.23 a.m. Train", 1898

»Joan Brossa a la Fundació Miró, octubre de 1986

He began to write occasionally during the civil war, though it was while he was doing his military service in Salamanca that he threw himself into the writing of his imatges hipnagògiques (hypnagogic images). After his return to Barcelona he met J.V. Foix, and subsequently, Joan Miró and Joan Prats. Thanks to their advice, his first books La bola i l'escarabat (The Ball and the Beetle) (1941-1943) and Fogall de sonets (Hotbed of Sonnets) would gain in elaboration and rhetoric without renouncing their more strictly surrealist techniques.

In the same neo-surrealist line, he wrote Romancets del dragolí (Little Romances of the Little Dragon) (1948) and began his career in theatre, almost certainly because of his need to introduce action and movement into his poems. In 1947 he participated in the production of the review Algol, and this was to be the seed of Dau al Set, which was founded by Joan Brossa, Antoni Tàpies, Modest Cuixart, Joan Ponç, Arnau Puig and Joan Josep Tharrats.

During this period, he also wrote prose, for example the collection Proses del Carnaval (Carnival Prose) (1949) and the pseudo-novel, Carnaval Escampat o la invasió desfeta (Scattered Carnival or the Invasion Routed) (1949). After 1950, Brossa's poetry became more socially committed, partly thanks to his meeting the Brazilian poet, Joâo Cabral de Melo.

Em va fer Joan Brossa (This Made Me Joan Brossa) (1950) represents a deep formal thematic rupture in his work (reality portrayed in prosaic language). Brossa also manifested his social-political interests in odes, sonnets and in pieces of theatre which were more traditional in their structure (with Des d'un got d'aigua fins al petroli (From a Drop of Water to Petroleum) (1950), Catalunya i selva (Catalonia and Jungle) (1953) and El pedestal són les sabates (The Pedestal is the Shoes) amongst the books of poems, and Cortina de muralles (Curtain of Walls) (1951), Els beneficis de la nació (The Benefits of the Nation) (1958) and Or i sal (Gold and Salt) (1959), amongst his books of plays). Moreover, he now reveals a conceptual interest, which he develops in particular from the 1960s onwards (Poemes civils (Civil Poems) (1960) and El saltamartí (The Tumble Doll) (1963).

At the same time, he was working on his early visual and object poems, which led him towards the world of plastic expression. There are abundant examples of his collaboration with different artists: El pa a la barca (Bread on the Boat) (1963), Novel·la (Novel) (1965), Frègoli 1965), etc., with Antoni Tàpies; Oda a Joan Miró (Ode to Joan Miró) (1973) and Tres Joans (Three Johns) (1978), with Joan Miró; Cartipàs (Exercise Book) (1974) and La cabaleta (The Small Intrigue) (1974), with Moisès Villèlia; Tal i tant (Such and So Much) (1983), with Frederic Amat: El bosc a casa (The Forest at Home) (1990), with Perejaume; Brossa I Chillida a peu pel llibre (Brossa and Chillida on Foot through the Book), with Chillida, etc..

In the domain of theatre, the 1960s represent an intensification of his actions-performances and other para-theatrical genres., such as monologues, transformation, ballets and concerts, outstanding amongst which are his works in collaboration with Josep M. Mestres Quadreny and Carles Santos (Suite bufa (Suite Buffa) of 1966 and Concert irregular (Irregular Concert) of 1968). Again, after the surprise caused by the publication of Poesia Rasa (Bare Poetry) in 1970 (a selection from books written since 1943), followed by Poemes de seny i cabell (Poems of Sense and Hair) (1977) and Rua de llibres (Cavalcade of Books) (1980), and the six volumes of Poesia escència (Theatrical Poetry) (1973 and 1983), Brossa was clearly becoming one of the key figures in contemporary Catalan literature, while he was simultaneously achieving international recognition as a plastic artist. Following his first anthological exhibition, Joan Brossa o les paraules són les coses (Joan Brossa or Words are Things) at the Fundació Miró in 1986, exhibitions and the elaboration of his objects would become constants in the poet's work.

His work was also seen now on the streets, with his so-called poemes corporis (corporeal poems) such as Poema visual transitable (Transitable Visual Poem) at the Vall d'Hebron Cycle Track (1984) and Barcino in the square in front of the Barcelona Cathedral (1994), amongst many others.

His productivity in the visual arts did not interrupt his literary work. Along with his stage, visual and object poems, Brossa continued to produce his short, playful, succinct and surprising poems (Els entra-I-surts del poeta. Roda de llibres 1969-75 (The Ins-and-Outs of the Poet. Round of Books, 1969-75)). In the 1970s he began to develop another type of poetry, the medieval Provençal form of the sestina, with which he experimented to its limits (his books of sestinas are collected in Viatge per la sextina (Journey through the Sestina) of 1987).

In his last books, one notes a contained and moving reflection on life and death, full of digressions and serenity (Passat festes (After the Holidays) (1995), La clau a la boca (The Key in the Mouth) (1997) Sumari Astral (Astral Summary) (1999). He received different awards and prizes for his work (the 1987 Barcelona Prize, the 1988 Picasso Medal awareed by UNESCO, the 1992 National Prize for Plastic Arts, and the 1998 National prize for Theatre from the Provincial Government of Catalonia, etc.).