The Hungry Lion features a jungle scene of thick green foliage lit by a deep red setting sun.

Other animals are visible in the dense undergrowth: a panther watches from the right, an owl stares out of the background holding a bloody strand of meat in its beak in the centre, with a second bird to its left, and dark ape-like shape with gimlet eye lurks to the left.

The avant-garde works on display at the 1905 Salon d'Automne were decried by art critic Louis Vauxcelles as, "Donatello chez les fauves" (Donatello among the wild beasts),[4] contrasting the paintings with a Renaissance-style sculpture displayed in the same room at the Grand Palais.

[5] Vauxcelles’ comment was printed on 17 October 1905 in Gil Blas,[4] a daily newspaper, and the term Fauvism passed into popular usage for the type of work exhibited, of seeming simplicity in vibrant colours.

The Hungry Lion is now held by the Fondation Beyeler and is exhibited at their gallery at Riehen, near Basel, in Switzerland.