The Sleeping Gypsy by Henri Rousseau

This painting that portrays a sleeping Gypsy, who is a musician, and you can tell because of the instrument lying next to her. If you have ever seen this painting before, then you will know that there is a lion also portrayed in this painting. It looks as though this is supposed to take place in the desert, so I'm guessing that this is somewhere near the Sahara or in Africa. Now, to the best of my knowledge, I see two wild creatures both in calm, serene state of being. In all books that have gypsies in them, they do not like enclosed spaces, and are usually travelers trying to make a living. In this case, our gypsy is a musician, but still a free spirit nonetheless. This painting connects to me, because once you are in a serene state of being, everything else around you is serene. A lion would not act like this if the girl was playing music and making noise, it would be afraid, and it wouldn't be very friendly in the first place. This makes me feel comforted, and serene, it also shows that miraculous things could happen. It also reaches out to the artist within all of us, and how tired most artists are, and somehow our art attracts others, if we just let go for a moment. Just like the artist sleeping and the lion not eating her. I thought that this painting could draw a number of answers, but that is why I chose this picture. Sometimes there is more than one answer.