The Frog Pond

Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a woodland scene with tall trees surrounding a small, still pond. The trees and grassy ground are painted in shades of olive-green, rusty orange, yellow ochre, and dark brown. The trunks of some of the trees are white or light gray, dappled with patches of sunlight. The small pond reflects the green leaves and the blue sky that is visible through a break in the trees at the center of the painting. The sky is covered with soft, white clouds. Upon closer inspection, a small shape that may be a person becomes visible near the center of the painting, next to a tall tree. The shape is indistinct, suggested with splashes of dark red, white, and blue paint.