Dry Brook

Jervis McEntee

1888

gouache

From the collection of Metropolitan Museum of Art

Impressionism Realism Late 19th Century tree

About this work

You see a quiet stream bed in late fall, bare trees leaning over gray rocks, everything still. McEntee worked in the same circle as the Hudson River School, but his sketches feel quieter—less drama, more silence. This one was probably done outside, in a single sitting. The gray paper lets the white gouache pop like winter light. Look up the subject “trees” to find more American artists who painted them this simply.