Juan Eduardo Cirlot facts for kids

Juan Eduardo Cirlot Laporta (born April 9, 1916 – died May 11, 1973) was a talented Spanish writer, artist, and thinker. He was a poet, someone who wrote about art, and a musician. He also studied mythology and how symbols work.

Juan Cirlot's Life Story

Juan Cirlot was born in Barcelona, Spain. He went to high school at a Jesuit college. While studying music, he also worked at a customs agency and a bank.

In 1937, he was called to serve in the Spanish Civil War. In 1940, he was called to serve again, this time by the side that supported Francisco Franco. He stayed in Zaragoza until 1943. There, he met many artists and thinkers. He became friends with the painter Alfonso Buñuel, whose brother was the famous filmmaker Luis Buñuel. Together, they translated poems by important French poets like Paul Éluard and André Breton. During this time, Juan Cirlot read many books and magazines about new and experimental art styles, known as avant-garde art.

In the summer of 1943, he returned to Barcelona and worked at the bank again. He met a novelist named Benítez de Castro, who helped him start writing about art for newspapers and magazines. On August 11, 1947, he married Gloria Valenzuela. He then started working for a publishing company called "Argos." He also composed music and worked with a group of Catalan artists called Dau al Set. On October 21, 1948, his musical piece called Preludio was performed for the first time in Barcelona.

In 1949, his daughter Lourdes was born. He also became a writer for the Dau al Set magazine. In October, he traveled to Paris and met André Breton, a very important figure in the Surrealist art movement. His first book, Igor Stravinsky, was published. In 1951, he started working at the Gustavo Gili publishing house, where he stayed until he passed away. That same year, he also began collecting old swords.

Between 1949 and 1954, Juan Cirlot became friends with Marius Schneider in Barcelona. Schneider was a German expert in cultures and music. He taught Cirlot about symbology, which is the study of symbols and their meanings. José Gudiol Ricart also taught him about Gothic art, an art style from the Middle Ages. In 1954, Cirlot's book El Ojo en la Mitología: su simbolismo (which means The Eye in Mythology: Its Symbolism) was published. His daughter Victoria was born that same year. He also helped start a group called the Academia del Faro de San Cristóbal.

In 1958, he started writing for other publications. He also published his most famous book, Diccionario de símbolos tradicionales (Dictionary of Traditional Symbols), which became known around the world. After this, he had many busy years as an art critic and gave many lectures.

In 1962, his father passed away. That same year, his dictionary was published in English as A Dictionary of Symbols, with an introduction by Herbert Read. In 1963, he stopped working with Antoni Tàpies, who was also a member of the Dau al Set group. In 1966, he watched the movie The War Lord, which had a big impact on his poetry.

Juan Cirlot became ill with pancreatic cancer in 1971. He had surgery on May 11, 1973, but sadly, he passed away that same day at his home in Barcelona.

Juan Cirlot's Published Works

Juan Cirlot wrote many books, including poetry and other non-fiction works called treatises.

Poetry Books

• Canto de la Vida muerta (Song of the Living Dead) (1946)
• Donde las lilas crecen (Where the Lilacs Grow) (1946)
• Cuarto canto de la vida muerta y otros fragmentos (Fourth Song of the Living Dead and Other Fragments) (1961)
• Regina tenebrarum (Queen of the Shadows) (1966)
• Bronwyn (1967)
• Cosmogonía (Cosmogony) (1969)
• Orfeo (1970)
• 44 sonetos de amor (44 Love Sonnets) (1971)
• Variaciones fonovisuales (Audiovisual Variations) (1996)
• En la llama. Poesía (1943–1959) (In the Flame: Poetry (1943–1959)) (2005)

Treatises (Non-Fiction Books)

• Diccionario de los ismos (Dictionary of -isms) (1949)
• Ferias y atracciones (Fairs and Attractions) (1950)
• El arte de Gaudí (The Art of Gaudí) (1950)
• La pintura abstracta (Abstract Painting) (1951)
• El estilo del siglo XX (20th Century Style) (1952)
• Introducción al surrealismo (Introduction to Surrealism) (1953)
• El mundo del objeto a la luz del surrealismo (The World of the Object to the Light of Surrealism) (1953)
• El Ojo en la Mitología: su simbolismo (The Eye in Mythology: Its Symbolism) (1954)
• El espíritu abstracto desde la prehistoria a la Edad Media (The Abstract Spirit from Prehistory to the Middle Ages) (1965)
• Diccionario de símbolos (A Dictionary of Symbols) (1958)
• Del no mundo : Aforismos (From No World: Aphorisms) (1969)
• 88 sueños; Los sentimientos imaginarios y otros artículos (88 Dreams: Imaginary Feelings and Other Articles) (1988)
• Confidencias literarias (Literary Secrets) (1996)

See also

In Spanish: Juan Eduardo Cirlot para niños