Leeuw aan de Ruaharivier, Tanzania, Afrika

Kuhnert's painting of a lion on the Ruaha River in Tanzania belongs to his series of African predator subjects produced after his East African expeditions of the 1890s. The Ruaha — a major river in central Tanzania flowing through the Great Rift Valley — was a region where large wildlife including lions was still abundant in the early twentieth century. Kuhnert's on-site sketching gave his paintings an observational authority that distinguished them from the studio confections of animal painters who had never left Europe. He became known as the supreme painter of African wildlife, and this lion study exemplifies the combination of field observation and painterly composition that made his reputation. The work is in the Rijksmuseum Twenthe.

The lion is placed in the characteristic scrub and rocky terrain of the Tanzanian interior, rendered with Kuhnert's careful attention to the animal's muscular structure and tawny coat. The river setting in the background is broadly handled. The palette is warm and dusty — ochres, tawny yellows, blue sky — suited to the African savanna.