Spanish Surrealist artist Joan Brossa died in Barcelona from a heart attack on December 30th 1998 at 79. A key figure of the Spanish avant-garde movement, Brossa fought with the Republicans during the civil war and started to produce poems. Brossa founded in 1948 the Dau al Set group with the philosopher Arnau Puig and the artists Joan Ponc, Modest Cuixart and Antoni Tapies.
Their ambition was to pursue the avant-garde tradition inaugurated by their predecessors Picasso, Miro and Dali.
Brossa was a close friend of Tapies and turned to Surrealism and later to Esoterism. He was also a prolific author of drama plays and got Tapies to produce the decors of two of them, Or i Sal in 1961 and Armari al mar in 1978. Brossa limited himself to creating what he called poetic objects and such ironical an sensitive visual poems tended to corner absurdity, to dig out mystery and magic.
A retrospective of his works was held in Céret and Collioure in 1990 and by The IVAM centre Julio Gonzales in Valencia in 1997.
Considered during many years as a suspect by the Franco regime, which he fought constantly, Brossa was finally hailed as a precursor by his fellowcountrymen and represented Spain at the Venice Biennial in 1997.
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