Monkeys

Kawanabe Kyōsai 河鍋暁斎

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The image depicts a painting of two monkeys sitting on a rocky outcropping. The monkeys are gray with light pink faces and are sitting in a curled up position. One monkey, on the left, appears smaller than the other. The larger monkey sits on the right with its back to the viewer and its head turned to the left to look at the smaller monkey; it has its arms wrapped around the smaller monkey. The rocky outcropping is dark gray and white. There are trees in the background, painted in black and white. The sky is a light brown color. There are several lines of Japanese text in the upper right corner, one of which is written in red. A thin gold border surrounds the painting.