Living on his family farm in Geneva, New York (1933–38), Dove frequently drew and painted the local barnyard animals. This goat's limbs, tail, and horn are suggested in abstract curves and wedges, and it lacks any particular facial features or other details. It is depicted not in naturalistic colors but in the tones of soil, foliage, water, and sky, so that the animal seems not only part of the landscape but is transformed into a landscape itself. Like many of Dove's paintings, this work was first conceived as a small watercolor study (49.70.75), which the artist then enlarged and transferred to canvas by means of either a projector or a pantograph.

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