Evening landscape by Betresine

Two figures in flowing robes pause near the water's edge, dwarfed by tall palms that stretch up into a sky burning orange from the setting sun. Behind them, faintly visible through the haze, stand the pyramids of Egypt, and off to the left a small white building sits among the greenery. The still water in the foreground catches the last light of day, throwing back a mirror image of the golden sky above.

This is the work of Peder Mørk Mønsted, a Danish painter who lived from 1859 to 1941 and built his reputation on precise, detailed landscapes. He is best known for painting the forests, streams, and snowy scenes of his native Denmark, but like many artists of his time he traveled widely, including trips to North Africa. Mønsted worked in a realist style, paying close attention to how light behaves, and here that skill shows in the way the sunset colors bleed across the sky and settle into the water. The prickly pear cactus in the lower right corner is a nice touch, a small reminder that this is a warm and distant place far from the cool northern woods he usually painted.