The Farmer 1914

Joan Miró made this oil on canvas painting, The Farmer, at an unknown date. There’s a real energy in the brushwork, with these short, almost staccato marks that feel very immediate. The colors, mostly warm reds and browns, give it this earthy, grounded feel. It's like you can almost feel the texture of the canvas underneath. I'm drawn to the way Miró uses color to create depth and form. Look at how the red seems to come forward while the greens and yellows recede. The surface is alive with activity. The way he’s layered the paint, it feels like the image is constantly shifting, like our perception is never quite settled. It's interesting how a work about a farmer, a seemingly simple subject, can hold so much complexity. Miró’s exploration of form and color feels connected to the work of someone like Marsden Hartley, who was also grappling with similar questions of representation and abstraction.