176 part two. Jennie Richee waiting for the rain to stop... 

Henry Darger created this watercolor and collage artwork, titled "176 part two. Jennie Richee waiting for the rain to stop...", sometime during his lifetime. The piece is striking for its non-traditional composition, a long horizontal panorama populated with figures and fantastical elements arranged in a seemingly endless landscape. The eye is drawn to the juxtaposition of repeated figures and the centrally located butterfly-winged child. Darger's use of bright, childlike colors, combined with the flatness of the figures, creates a dreamlike quality, a semiotic system in which innocence and otherworldliness merge. Darger challenges conventional perspective, instead layering elements to create depth and visual interest. This subverts established artistic norms, creating a unique visual language that resists easy categorization. The effect is unsettling yet strangely appealing. The panorama itself acts as a form of coded communication. Darger's work, in its formal and thematic elements, opens a space for ongoing dialogue and re-interpretation.