While this oil painting Coq de la li may not be a complete rendition of Joan Miró’s Le Coq, unquestionably it pays reference to it. While many people associate Miró with the Surrealists he was never officially part of the group. Surrealism was among his artistic interests but Miró endeavored to remain free to experiment with many artistic concepts and styles: Color Field Painting and Abstract Expressionism being among them.

This oil painting is akin to a mirror image or childlike rendition of Le Coq. In some ways, the viewer wonders if it is homage to those artistic concepts which combined to create Le Coq: Or whether in some way it endeavors to question them.

Li is the chemical symbol of Lithium which is a light silver metal. The characteristics of Lithium are, it is light, highly reactive and as far as the scientists can tell, for humans it has no crucial biological function: Therefore, this is an interesting title as it is an interesting oil painting.

The simplicity of form with a touch of realism and soft color palette make this oil painting very easy on the eye. The title and the artistic implications of it offer up a different angle to the picture. Indeed, this oil painting offers up an abundance of angles: theoretically, hypothetically and visually.