# Moses in the Bullrushes

- By: Henry Ossawa Tanner (born Pittsburgh, PA 1859-died Paris, France 1937)
- Date: 1921
- Medium: oil on wood panel
- Classification: Paintings
- Dimensions: 22 3/8 x 15 1/8 in. (56.8 x 38.5 cm)
- Credit line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins
- Museum: [Smithsonian Institution](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=23668)
- Rights: [CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/f09efc5ea0e592884c9bcc4c8866fd5d.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Henry Ossawa Tanner took most of his themes from the New Testament, but also made several paintings of the story of Moses. The mother of Moses had set her infant son adrift in the Nile in a basket of reeds so that Pharaoh’s soldiers would not slay the Hebrew child. Pharaoh’s daughter found the baby, who was raised in the palace until Moses rejected his royal position and led his people to freedom. The muted blues capture the nighttime scene, where the moonlight reflecting on the water may signify God’s presence.