The Denver Art Museum (DAM) in Colorado – known for its remarkable art shows, which have included works by Van Gogh, Picasso, Chagall and Matisse – currently has a bursting, vibrant exhibit of Joan Miró’s paintings and sculptures, titled “Instinct and Imagination.” The presentation, featuring Miró’s accomplishments in the last decades of his life, 1963 to 1983, is from the Museo Nationale Centro de Arte Reina, in Sofia, Madrid.
Miró pointed out, "I painted in a frenzy, so that people will know that I am alive, that I'm breathing, that I still have a few more places to go. I'm heading in new directions.” Miró characterized his work as an “assassination of painting” and also as “phantasmagoric.” He used sharp, primary colors, frequently symbols of stars, birds and women. For his sculptures, he picked up material on the beach and on the streets, declaring, “The material dictates what I must do.”
What helps to bring meaning and context to the artwork in this Miró exhibit, and in all the other shows at the DAM, are the accompanying posted label texts, photographs and artist quotes that make the viewer feel as if he or she were having an intimate conversation with the artist.
Danielle St. Peter is responsible for these interpretive installations. “Actually it is a team effort,” St. Peter said. “What makes DAM so special is that all the departments, including the Curatorial Department and the Department of Learning and Engagement, work collaboratively to design the content in our exhibitions. We strive to get our visitors to look closer at the art by allowing them to view videos when available that show the artists’ creative process.”
St. Peter emphasized that so many exhibitions in museums are curatorially driven. “Here, we work together to make sure that all of our exhibition text is visitor friendly, not too academic, and portrays the human side of the artist. I love my work. When I look at the art to be exhibited, with all the different teams in our museum involved in preparing a new show, they help me to see it in various ways, and that activates my imagination, inspires me to think further.” She added that, once the exhibition is open to the public, one of her great pleasures is leading tours and listening to how the visitors interpret the art.
St. Peter, who today is married and busy redecorating their recently bought mid-century house in Denver, started out at the University of Oklahoma, majoring in photography and art history. She went on to Southern Methodist University to get a master’s degree in art history. It was while she was an intern at Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, that St. Peter realized that she wanted to work with museums. DAM will announce, in the coming months its 2016 schedule, those shows in which St. Peter will once again translate to the viewer her art interpretations. The Miró exhibition closes June 28.
Edith Lynn Beer is our ground reporter in Denver. She has written for the New York Times, News Day and numerous consumer magazines.