
Read the visual description
The image shows a painted scene viewed through an oval frame with a soft, muted border. The perspective places the observer at a ground level, looking onto a village setting with lush trees and tall plants in the foreground. Beyond the village, there is dense jungle foliage. Small houses with pitched roofs are visible along the horizon. The brushstrokes are delicate and precise, creating a soft, dreamlike quality in the scene. The color palette is dominated by earthy greens and browns with lighter shades suggesting an overcast sky.
National Gallery of Art · Painting
Arowak Village
George Catlin
- Date
- 1854/1869
- Medium
- oil on card mounted on paperboard
- Dimensions
- overall: 45.9 x 62.3 cm (18 1/16 x 24 1/2 in.)
- Classification
- Painting
- Accession number
- 1965.16.267
- Credit line
- Paul Mellon Collection
- Time span
- 1851 to 1875
- Department
- CAB
Subjects and terms
- painted surface
- American
- Village
- American Paintings, Catlin
- Arowak
- South American Indian
- architecture
Provenance
George Catlin [1796-1872]; by descent to his daughters, Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin; purchased 1912 from Elizabeth Wing Catlin by the American Museum of Natural History; sold 1959 through (Kennedy Galleries, New York) to Mr. Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA; gift 1965 to the NGA.
NGA object ID 50575. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.