Law of the Wild

Charles S. Raleigh

National Gallery of Art

This is a painting of a polar bear attacking a seal on an iceberg in the ocean. The bear has cream-colored fur with some patches of dark yellow, and its large paws end in sharp claws. The seal has sleek brown fur or skin. The bear is poised atop the struggling seal, one of its large paws raised upward and the other clawing the seal's side. The seal's mouth is open, its head turned to look back at the bear. The icy landscape includes jagged ice formations and a green-blue ocean that stretches to the horizon, with a distant ship sailing next to another tall iceberg. The sky above is flat gray, with some lighter tones near the horizon.