"Paint Me" - Apachee

George Catlin

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a group of people standing together outdoors. In the center of the group is a person with red-and-white body paint creating intricate designs on their otherwise nude body. The rest of the people form a line behind them, and these people are dressed in tan garments including shawls and tunics. Some of them have red, white, and black feathers in their dark hair. A child on the far right holds a pot on their head, while another person on the left carries a long spear and what looks like a fan of feathers. Many of the people wear decorative necklaces and earrings. The ground is grassy, and surrounding the feet of the central person are several items such as shoes, a shield-like object, a quiver, and a curved object. The background shows a grassy plain meeting a pale-blue sky. Surrounding the central painting is a border of white paper, and around that is a pale-green frame.