Dog Barking at the Moon

In 1926, Miró painted Dog Barking at the Moon in the town of Mont-roig del Camp, Catalonia. The painting is 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]

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]

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.[1] The painting is distinct from the similarly named Dog Barking at the Moon, a 1952 lithograph by the same artist in an edition of 80. A copy of the lithograph is in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.[3]

In April 2021, Elon Musk shared an image of the painting on Twitter with the caption "Doge Barking at the Moon". The tweet triggered a more than 100% increase in the price of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.[4]