Gustave Courbet's A Family of Deer in a Landscape with a Waterfall illustrates what water often means in art and poetry--life. Water is essential to life. Without it, we would cease to exist.
From the top to the bottom of this piece, life just bursts out. We see a bit of sky with white clouds, which are immediately taken over by the tops of green trees. Our eyes travel down and we begin to see the top of the miraculous waterfall which spills down to the deer family enjoying the bounty it brings. In the foreground, the water sparkles in the sunlight.
This is a kind of Eden, a life-giving oasis, of the kind that exist in the dessert. When it they are real and not a mirage, they are a precious gift of God.
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