On the Fence

Winslow Homer

National Gallery of Art

Two children are depicted in this painting. A young boy is sitting on a tree branch on the left, looking down at a girl on the right. The boy is barefoot, wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, a long-sleeved brown shirt, suspenders, and yellow trousers. The girl is turned to the left and has her hands clasped around the tree branch above her. She has one leg bent and raised, her foot resting on a wooden fence that stretches across the bottom of the painting. She has a braided ponytail and is wearing a pale blue dress with elbow-length sleeves and ruffles around the waist. Both children have pale skin. The tree branch that the boy is sitting on and the girl is holding has many thinner branches connected to it, all covered in bright green leaves. The background shows soft mountains in blue and green under a pale, off-white sky.