Rip Van Winkle Awakening from his Long Sleep

Henry Inman

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a man sitting on the ground in a woodland setting. On the right, light in the distance suggests an opening in the trees, which shows a small body of water with a white sailboat on it, barely visible through the foliage. The trees have dense leaves in shades of green, dark red, and burnt orange. In the center is an open green patch where the man sits on the left. He has pale skin, curly gray hair, and a gray beard. His eyes are wide, and one of his hands is raised to his head. He wears a brown jacket over a brown-green vest, red trousers, blue stockings, and brown shoes, a hat and rifle on the ground beside him. He is illuminated by a patch of light, while the rest of the forest is dark, aside from the opening on the right.