Image DESCRIPTION

This outdoor painting shows the ruins of a Mayan monument in the Mexican state of Yucatan. The structure appears in the distance at the center of the painting. It is a massive stone building adorned by long horizontal lines, short vertical lines and many colorful, geometric patterns. Some of its walls have crumbled and the top of the structure is missing. There are trees and other plants growing from various parts of the building. At its base are several tall openings leading into the dark interior. Two human figures standing at the mouth of one of these openings are dwarfed by its high arch. Several more tiny figures stand to the left of the ruin. In the foreground are two flat stone slabs, one on top of the other. Standing on them are two men wearing European hats, clothes and boots. One is dressed in a dark coat, and the other in a red coat. The man wearing dark clothes is pointing to the left toward the ruins. On the far left edge of the painting, part of another structure is visible. Its walls are also decorated with geometric shapes and diagonal patterns, and trees and plants grow at its top and bottom. The scene is situated in a desert-like landscape with large pieces of broken stone littering the ground. Two tall palm trees occupy the right side of the canvas, and more clusters of trees are seen on either side of the distant ruin. A billowy white and gray cloud hovers in the light blue sky above the central ruin.

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