The Indian and the Lily

George de Forest Brush said: “In choosing Indians as a subject for art, I do not paint from the historian’s or the antiquary’s point of view. …Therefore, I hesitate to attempt to add any interest to my pictures by supplying historical facts. If I were required to resort to this in order to bring out the poetry, I would drop the subject at once.”

Prior to completing The Indian and the Lily, Brush had been in Florida visiting the Apaches imprisoned at St. Augustine. No evidence of the terrible conditions there appears in this painting. Instead, the scene is set in an ideal world—a place of peace, quiet, and untouched nature. Poetry, Brush seems to say, can only be found in a picturesque place apart from civilization.