When I was a small child, my dad sold encyclopedias and similar books door-to-door. In one book titled, The Book of Knowledge, there was a picture of Henri Rousseau's painting, The Sleeping Gypsy. This painting had a haunting, mysterious effect on my child's imagination. I was both intrigued and somewhat fearful of what this image held. Fearful because the lion was so close to the vulnerable, sleeping figure. Intrigued because the sleeping figure slept unaware of what was lurking right beside her. It seemed like a moment suspended in time. Will the lion devour her? Will the woman awaken? What would she feel if she awoke to find a lion breathing over her? The suspense that I experienced studying this painting has always haunted me and remained with me.
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