The constant search for occultism steeped in Freudian psychoanalytical thought positions Joan Ponç as one of the national greats of the surrealist school. Influenced by his friendship with Josep Vicenç Foix and Joan Brossa, his early paintings reflect a schematic primitivism where anthropomorphic figures coexist with the vegetable, transporting us to a fantasy world of dreams and the subconscious. Ponç was founder of the first avant-garde magazine Algol and the Dau al Set group, together with Modest Cuixart, Antoni Tàpies, Joan Josep Tharrats, Joan Brossa, Arnau Puig and the critic Juan Eduardo Cirlot. In 1965 he was awarded the Grand Prize for Drawing at the 7th Sao Paulo Biennial for his series Suite pájaros.