Dog Barking at the Moon (Miró)

Dog Barking at the Moon is a painting by Spanish painter and sculptor Joan Miró. It was painted in 1926 in the town of Mont-roig del Camp, Catalonia. The painting was originally in the collection of Albert Eugene Gallatin before being bequeathed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1952, where it remains.

Dog Barking at the Moon
Artist	Joan Miró
Year	1926
Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	73 cm × 92.1 cm (29 in × 36.3 in)
Location	Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

Background

Dog Barking at the Moon was originally based on Miró's sketch of a Catalan folk tale which depicts a dog yelping "bow wow" at the moon while the moon looks down saying, "You know, I don't give a damn."[1]

Analysis

The painting presents a sparse, earthy brown landscape set against a black sky. However, Miró uses bright and playful colors to depict the distorted figure of a dog in the right foreground barking at the half moon and bird above it. In the left foreground, a ladder extends from the bottom of the painting before receding into the dark night sky. The vast, empty spaces in the painting create a sense of loneliness and isolation.[2] Michael R. Taylor observes that Dog Barking at the Moon reflects Miró's memories of his native Catalan landscape and writes that the painting "exemplifies [Miró's] sophisticated blend of pictorial wit and abstraction".[1]

This painting should not be confused with the similarly named Dog Barking at the Moon, a 1952 lithograph by the same artist in an edition of 80, with a copy in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.[3]

References

1. "Dog Barking at the Moon". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
2. "Looking to Write, Writing to Look (Dog Barking at the Moon)". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved September 21, 2019.
3. "Dog Barking at the Moon". MoMA. Retrieved September 21, 2019.