When you look at the painting, you can see a man who is staring at the distance. We can see that he looks pensive - he is deeply in meditation, thinking about the flow of water, perhaps, as the name of the painting suggests. He looks melancholic and immersed in his thoughts, and is mulling over the forces of nature and its effects. Maybe he is thinking about life itself, and it passing by like water in a stream. The artist designed the image the way he did maybe to make us stop and think about life and nature ourselves, and not rush living our daily, perhaps meaningless lives. This is my take on the painting, at least. :)
The image contains a sitting man in a thinking position. The background suggests he is near a river or stream. Leonardo Da Vinci made very bold design choices when designing this artwork. The bold portrait style and the direction of the man's eye are very unusual in Da Vinci's work. This evokes a depth of meaning that transcends the image itself. It draws you in with the obvious focal point of the man's face and brings you into the mind of the titular character.
