The Laughing Child, by Robert Henri, i feel was kind of like a slap in the face to the people who thought that people who were less fortunate, or poor, needed to be rescued. That they couldn't be happy because they didn't have everything that the wealthy had. This painting shows that kind of people that even if a child doesn't have all of the big homes and vacation homes, nice clothes, and money to go to parks to enjoy leisure activities, they can be extremely happy and feel just as fulfilled and sometimes more fulfilled than the children of wealthier parents. The child depicted in this painting seems to know that she means the world to her parents, something that the children of wealthier individuals may never have felt their entire lives. In a book called Hidden Fields, this painting is paired with several songs that a viewer or listener may feel are appropriate to be alongside this picture. A Child's Laughter by David Stanley Smith is one of the songs that is paired with this painting along with Variations on a Nursery Tune by Ernst von Dohnanyi and others. Also, there is a poem which is paired with this painting that is influenced by it and reflects some of the same aspects. It talks of the girl being, "God's gift to our arms" presumably her parents. "She is love, unconditionally, like her laughter." This poem speaks of the laughter that someone would have heard if they had been in the same room with this beautiful young child who is thriving in life even though she isn't the most wealthy.
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