Visual Description

This richly textured horizontal landscape is approximately 3.5 feet wide by 2.5 feet tall. Mir’s use of texture and color creates depth and interest. The contrast of broad, long brushstrokes with dabs of paint results in a feeling of spontaneity. The paint is thick and warm in some places, smooth and cool in others. The overall effect is of a brilliant and very hot summer’s day, either early morning or late afternoon.

The central third of the composition features houses of orange and white stucco fronted by a crumbling stone wall, all bathed in sunlight. The sky is bright blue with wispy white clouds. The foreground diagonal is in shadows, showing a plowed field in browns and blacks. The rugged contrast of rough to smooth and bright to dark challenges the viewer to capture all of the elements of the composition.