Stand back to see all of this huge painting. Can you make out the setting? At the top, look for a tangle of tree limbs and birds flying into the cloudy, sunset sky. What season of the year do you think it is? From the look of these bare branches, it's mid-Winter. Darkness cloaks the forest below. But can you see traces of color from the sunset reflected here in the shadows? After the sun sets the forest will be freezing cold. Are there any people still making their way home?

The French artist, Théodore Rousseau worked on this painting off and on for 20 years. It shows the ancient forest of Fontainebleau, near the village of Barbizon. Rousseau belonged to a group of artists called the Barbizon School. They often painted outdoors, looking at the forest and fields they were painting, Rousseau came to know the forest of Fontainebleau so well, he painted this indoors from memory.