Entry into the Forest is reminiscent of frescoes in the Brazilian Ministry of Education. The idea of representing tropical animals, birds, and insects in a jungle setting derives from the decorations of the dining room Portinari prepared for the Rio de Janeiro residence of Senhor José Nabuco. In both the ink and the gouache sketches for the mural of the Hispanic Room, the composition is square, and the scene is dominated by two large figures at the right. On the wall, however, the picture assumed larger proportions. This mural contrasts with the first in that the composition is more static and the figures more solidly realized. Yet there is the same insistence upon essential things in the meticulous rendering of the hands and arms of the explorers and the almost unfinished aspect of the figure of the drinking man beside the stream.