Question

Please help me solve this question for my Humanites class upon a selected artwork I choose.

Overview: Miró moved from Barcelona to Paris in 1920, determined to participate in the artistic vanguard of the French capital. Nevertheless, he remained deeply attached to his native Catalonia, and returned each summer to his family's farm in the village of Montroig. In 1921, he determined to make a painting of this farm, a painting that he came to regard as one of the key works in his career.
The Farm represents a brilliant amalgamation of an intense, even primitive realism with the formal vocabulary of cubism. The painting is a compendium of separate details, each carefully observed and precisely described. This detailed realism, however, is matched by a tendency to simplify forms into abstract, geometric shapes. Moreover, space in The Farm is defined by a ground plane that tilts sharply upward, while individual forms are similarly tilted, so that they sit silhouetted, parallel to the picture plane.
By the mid-1920s, Miró had abandoned the realist manner of The Farm and had created a surrealist style of automatism and abstraction. Elements from The Farm continued to appear in his work, however, and the intensity of vision found in this painting remained a standard for all of his later art.

Question:
Medium
What is this work constructed from? What type of materials are used?

Answer 1

The size of Joan Miró's painting "The Farm" is 4 feet 9 1/4 inches x 8 feet 2 3/4 inches (145.4 x 250.8 cm).

The large size of the painting has a significant impact on the way that viewers react to the piece. The size of the work commands attention and creates a sense of presence, drawing the viewer into the world that Miró has created. The large scale allows for a greater level of detail and complexity, with each element of the painting carefully observed and precisely described. This can create a sense of immersion and engagement with the work.

The size of the painting also emphasizes the tension between realism and abstraction that is central to the work. The detailed realism of the painting is matched by a tendency to simplify forms into abstract, geometric shapes. The large scale of the painting allows for both of these elements to coexist in a way that creates a sense of dynamic energy and movement.

Overall, the size of "The Farm" is an integral part of the work's impact and meaning. The large scale creates a sense of presence and engagement, while also emphasizing the tension between realism and abstraction that is central to the work.

Answer 2

The Farm is an oil painting on canvas, a traditional medium used widely by artists during the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century. Oil painting involves mixing pigments with oil to create paint, which is then applied to a prepared canvas surface. In this case, Miró would have mixed pigments with linseed oil, the most commonly used oil for oil painting, to create the colors used in the painting. He would have also employed a brush, likely of a variety of sizes, to create the detailed and nuanced forms found in the painting.