Hut among Trees

Meindert Hobbema

National Gallery of Art

A dilapidated cottage nestles among leafy trees next to a winding dirt road in this square landscape painting. The dirt road runs from the bottom center of the painting into the distance. The cottage sits to the right of the road, encircled by a low, rustic fence. There are holes in the roof, and the whole building leans a bit to our left. The wall we can see has areas of gray, mustard yellow, and brick red, and some panels and windows are missing. Other windows have diamond-shaped panes. Gnarled sage and olive-green trees and scrubby dark green underbrush surround the hut and grow on the other side of the road, to our left. Trees on the far side of the cottage form a line between it and a spring-green lawn that leads back to a butter-yellow house. A woman and child stand in the road facing us as a thin, light brown dog scampers in our direction. The woman holds a rust-orange bundle in her arms. Further up the road, a man on horseback rides away from the woman and child toward the yellow house. Dark gray and white clouds drift in a powder-blue sky overhead.