This painting, “The Sleeping Gypsy”, was painted by the French painter Henri Rousseau in 1897.  It is an oil painting done on a canvas. It is found hanging on the fifth floor at the Museum of Modern Art in Midtown. The dimensions of the painting are 4’3″ x  6’7″.

What immediately strikes me about the lion in this painting is the way its eye is wide open, staring right at one who is observing the painting. The lion is not the typical warm, honey brown color that comes to mind when one thinks of a lion, but rather a darker, more chocolate color which sets the nighttime theme of the painting. Something else that strikes me about the lion is the way its mane falls forward, rather than backward. Typically, when thinking of a lion one may picture the mane falling the opposite direction of its face. The mane also appears to be quite stringy and fine, but also fluffy. The way the lion is standing and looking at the observer is almost as if he was walking and froze as he realized he was being watched, almost like someone tip-toeing in the nighttime, being careful not to wake the sleeping gypsy up. The lion also does not depict the stereotypical “King of the Jungle” sort of picture often thought of when one thinks of a lion, but rather more of a cowardly, and maybe even shy lion. The gypsy in the painting appears to be sleeping peacefully, but at the same time firmly gripping a stick which one may assume she keeps for protection in the event that she needs it.