Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the Guggenheim was a French

post-impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

painter in the

Naïve Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may ...

or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier (the customs officer), a humorous description of his occupation as a toll and tax collector. He started painting seriously in his early forties; by age 49, he retired from his job to work on his art full-time. Ridiculed during his lifetime by critics, he came to be recognized as a self-taught genius whose works are of high artistic quality. Rousseau's work exerted an extensive influence on several generations of

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

artists.Roberta Smith (14 July 2006
"Henri Rousseau: In imaginary jungles, a terrible beauty lurks"
''The New York Times''. Accessed 14 July 2006

Biography

Early life

Rousseau was born in

Laval, Mayenne Laval () is a town in western France, about west-southwest of Paris, and the capital of the Mayenne departments of France, department. Its inhabitants are called ''Lavallois''. The commune of France, commune of Laval proper, without the metropo ...

, France, in 1844 into the family of a tinsmith; he was forced to work there as a young child. He attended Laval High School as a day student, and then as a boarder after his father became a debtor and his parents had to leave the town upon the seizure of their house. Though mediocre in some of his high school subjects, Rousseau won prizes for drawing and music.''Henri Rousseau'', (1979), Dora Vallier After high school, he worked for a lawyer and studied law, but "attempted a small perjury and sought refuge in the army." He served four years, starting in 1863. With his father's death, Rousseau moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1868 to support his widowed mother as a government employee. In 1868, he married Clémence Boitard, his landlord's 15-year-old daughter, with whom he had six children (only one survived). In 1871, he was appointed as a collector of the

octroi Octroi (; , to grant, authorize; Lat. ''auctor'') is a local tax collected on various articles brought into a district for consumption. Antiquity The word itself is of French origin. Octroi taxes have a respectable antiquity, being known in R ...

of Paris, collecting taxes on goods entering Paris. His wife died in 1888 and he married Josephine Noury in 1898.

Career

From 1886, he exhibited regularly in the

Salon des Indépendants Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name i ...

, and, although his work was not placed prominently, it drew an increasing following over the years. '' Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!)'' was exhibited in 1891, and Rousseau received his first serious review when the young artist

Félix Vallotton Félix Édouard Vallotton (; December 28, 1865December 29, 1925) was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as '. He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. He painted portra ...

wrote: "His tiger surprising its prey ought not to be missed; it's the alpha and omega of painting." Yet it was more than a decade before Rousseau returned to depicting his vision of jungles. In 1893, Rousseau moved to a studio in

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. It is split betwee ...

where he lived and worked until his death in 1910. In 1897, he produced one of his most famous paintings, ''La Bohémienne endormie'' ('' The Sleeping Gypsy''). In 1905, Rousseau's large jungle scene '' The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope'' was exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants near works by younger leading avant-garde artists such as

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

, in what is now seen as the first showing of The Fauves. Rousseau's painting may even have influenced the naming of the Fauves. In 1907, he was commissioned by artist

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (; 12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist of the School of Paris movement; who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism (art), Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and g ...

's mother, Berthe, Comtesse de Delaunay, to paint ''

The Snake Charmer ''The Snake Charmer'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme produced around 1879. After it was used on the cover of Edward Said's book ''Orientalism (book), Orientalism'' in 1978, the work "attained a level of notoriety ...

''.

Le Banquet Rousseau

When

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

happened upon a painting by Rousseau being sold on the street as a canvas to be painted over, the younger artist instantly recognised Rousseau's genius and went to meet him. In 1908, Picasso held a half serious, half burlesque banquet in his studio at

Le Bateau-Lavoir The (, "Washhouse Boat") is the nickname of a building in the Montmartre district of the 18th arrondissement of Paris that is famous in art history as the residence and meeting place for a group of outstanding early 20th-century artists such as ...

in Rousseau's honour. ''Le Banquet Rousseau'', "one of the most notable social events of the twentieth century," wrote American poet and literary critic John Malcolm Brinnin, "was neither an orgiastic occasion nor even an opulent one. Its subsequent fame grew from the fact that it was a colorful happening within a revolutionary art movement at a point of that movement's earliest success, and from the fact that it was attended by individuals whose separate influences radiated like spokes of creative light across the art world for generations."John Malcolm Brinnin, ''The Third Rose, Gertrude Stein and Her World'', An Atlantic Monthly Press Book, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, Toronto, 1959
/ref> Guests at the ''banquet Rousseau'' included:

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (; ; born Kostrowicki; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist and art critic of Poland, Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...

Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...

Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic g ...

Max Jacob Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. Life and career After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic c ...

, Marie Laurencin,

André Salmon André Salmon (4 October 1881, Paris – 12 March 1969, Sanary-sur-Mer) was a French poet, art critic and writer. He was one of the early defenders of Cubism, with Guillaume Apollinaire and Maurice Raynal. Biography André Salmon was born i ...

, Maurice Raynal, Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler,

Leo Stein Leo Stein (May 11, 1872 – July 29, 1947) was an American art collector and critic. He was born in Allegheny City (now in Pittsburgh), the older brother of Gertrude Stein. He became an influential promoter of 20th-century paintings. Educatio ...

, and

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

. Maurice Raynal, in ''Les Soirées de Paris'', 15 January 1914, p. 69, wrote about "Le Banquet Rousseau". Years later the French writer

recalled the setting of the illustrious banquet:

Retirement and death

After Rousseau's retirement in 1893, he supplemented his small pension with part-time jobs and work such as playing a violin in the streets. He also worked briefly at '' Le petit Journal'', where he produced a number of its covers. An equally famous work by Rousseau, included in the collection of

John Hay Whitney John Hay Whitney (August 17, 1904 – February 8, 1982) was an American venture capitalist, sportsman, philanthropist, newspaper publisher, film producer and diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, publisher of the '' New ...

, is '' Tropical Forest with Monkeys'', which was painted during the last months of his life. It shows one of his signature exotic landscapes, lush, tropical, and virgin. Many of the animals in Rousseau's images have human faces or attributes. The central monkeys in this painting hold green sticks from which strings appear to dangle, suggesting fishing poles and human leisure activities, thereby emphasizing the quasi-human experience of the animals. In this sense Rousseau's anthropomorphized primates can be seen not as true wild beasts, but rather as representing an escape from the "

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

" of Paris and the everyday grind of civilized life. Rousseau exhibited his final painting, '' The Dream'', in March 1910, at the Salon des Independants. In the same month Rousseau suffered a phlegmon in his leg, one which he ignored. In August, when he was admitted to the Necker Hospital in

where his son had died, he was found to have

gangrene Gangrene is a type of tissue death caused by a lack of blood supply. Symptoms may include a change in skin color to red or black, numbness, swelling, pain, skin breakdown, and coolness. The feet and hands are most commonly affected. If the ga ...

in his leg. After an operation, he died from a

blood clot A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulatio ...

on 2 September 1910. At his funeral, seven friends stood at his grave: the painters

Paul Signac Paul Victor Jules Signac ( , ; 11 November 1863 – 15 August 1935) was a French Neo-Impressionist painter who, with Georges Seurat, helped develop the artistic technique Pointillism. Biography Paul-Victor-Jules Signac was born in Paris on ...

and Manuel Ortiz de Zárate; the artist couple

and

Sonia Terk Sonia Delaunay (; 14 November 1885 – 5 December 1979) was a French artist born to Jewish parents, who spent most of her working life in Paris. She was born in the Russian Empire, now Ukraine, and was formally trained in Russia and Germany, be ...

; the sculptor

Constantin Brâncuși Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian sculptor, painter, and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century and a pioneer of modernism ...

; Rousseau's landlord Armand Queval, and

, who wrote the epitaph Brâncuși put on the tombstone:

We salute you Gentle Rousseau you can hear us. Delaunay, his wife, Monsieur Queval and myself. Let our luggage pass duty free through the gates of heaven. We will bring you brushes, paints and canvas. That you may spend your sacred leisure in the light and Truth of Painting. As you once did my portrait facing the stars, lion and the gypsy.

Artistry

Paintings

Rousseau claimed he had "no teacher other than nature", although he admitted he had received "some advice" from two established Academic painters, Félix Auguste Clément and

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (; 11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academic painting, academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living art ...

. Essentially, he was self-taught and is considered to be a naïve or primitive painter. His best-known paintings depict jungle scenes, even though he never left France or saw a jungle. Stories spread by admirers that his army service included the French expeditionary force to Mexico are unfounded. His inspiration came from illustrations in children's books and the botanical gardens in

, as well as tableaux of taxidermy wild animals. During his term of service, he had also met soldiers who had survived the French expedition to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and he listened to their stories of the subtropical country they had encountered. To the critic

Arsène Alexandre Arsène Alexandre (16 August 1859 – 1 October 1937) was a French art critic. He was a contributor to ''L'Événement'', ''Le Paris'' and ''L'Éclair'' and in 1894 was one of the founders of the satirical journal ''Le Rire'', becoming its arti ...

, he described his frequent visits to the

Jardin des Plantes The Jardin des Plantes (, ), also known as the Jardin des Plantes de Paris () when distinguished from other ''jardins des plantes'' in other cities, is the main botanical garden in France. Jardin des Plantes is the official name in the present da ...

: "When I go into the glass houses and I see the strange plants of exotic lands, it seems to me that I enter into a dream." Along with his exotic scenes there was a concurrent output of smaller topographical images of the city and its suburbs. He claimed to have invented a new genre of ''portrait landscape'', which he achieved by starting a painting with a specific view, such as a favourite part of the city, and then depicting a person in the foreground, most notably his early '' Myself, Portrait-Landscape'' (1890).

Criticism and recognition

Rousseau's flat, seemingly childish style was disparaged by many critics; people often were shocked by his work or ridiculed it.''Henri Rousseau, 1844–1910'' By Cornelia Stabenow
page 10 His ingenuousness was extreme, and he always aspired, in vain, to conventional acceptance. Many observers commented that he painted like a child, but the work shows sophistication with his particular technique.

Legacy

Rousseau's work exerted an extensive influence on several generations of avant-garde artists, including

Jean Hugo Jean Hugo (; 19 November 1894 – 21 June 1984) was a painter, illustrator, theatre designer and author. He was born in Paris and died in his home at the Mas de Fourques, near Lunel, France. Brought up in a lively artistic environment, he beg ...

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, drawing, draftsman, printmaker, sculpture, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the m ...

, and the

Surrealists Surrealism is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and id ...

. According to Roberta Smith, an art critic writing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', "Beckmann’s amazing self-portraits, for example, descend from the brusque, concentrated forms of Rousseau’s portrait of the writer

Pierre Loti Pierre Loti (; pseudonym of Louis Marie-Julien Viaud ; 14 January 1850 – 10 June 1923) was a French naval officer and novelist, known for his exotic novels and short stories.This article is derived largely from the ''Encyclopædia Britannica Ele ...

."Joann Moser (1985) "Pre-Cubist Works, 1904–1909" in ''Jean Metzinger in Retrospect''. The University of Iowa Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty Trust, University of Washington Press. pp. 34, 35. In 1911, a retrospective exhibition of Rousseau's works was shown at the

. His paintings were also shown at the first Blaue Reiter exhibition. Critics have noted the influence of Rousseau on

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

's poetry. See, for instance, Stevens's " Floral Decorations for Bananas" in the collection ''Harmonium''. The American poet

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...

was a great admirer of Rousseau, referencing his art, as well as drawing inspiration from his works in her poetry. The poem, "Yadwigha, on a Red Couch, Among Lilies" (1958), is based upon his painting, ''The Dream'', whilst the poem "Snakecharmer" (1957) is based upon his painting ''The Snake Charmer''. The song "The Jungle Line", by

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

, is based upon a Rousseau painting. Underground comic artist

Bill Griffith William Henry Jackson Griffith (born January 20, 1944) is an American cartoonist who signs his work Bill Griffith and Griffy. He is best known for his surreal daily comic strip '' Zippy''. The catchphrase "Are we having fun yet?" is credited t ...

drew a four-page biographical sketch of Rousseau, ''A Couch in the Sun'', which was included in issue #2 of the ''Arcade'' anthology. The visual style of Michel Ocelot's 1998 animation film, ''

Kirikou and the Sorceress ''Kirikou and the Sorceress'' (, ) is a 1998 French-language Animated film, animated Adventure film, adventure fantasy film written and directed by Michel Ocelot. Drawn from elements of West African folk tales, it depicts how a newborn boy, Kir ...

'', is partly inspired by Rousseau, particularly the depiction of the jungle vegetation. A Rousseau painting was used as an inspiration for the 2005 animated film ''

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

''. Rousseau's 1908 painting ''Fight Between a Tiger and a Buffalo'' was used as the inspiration for a series of 2021 advertisements concerning the rebrand of

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

into the

metaverse The metaverse is a loosely defined term referring to virtual worlds in which users represented by avatars interact, usually in 3D and focused on social and economic connection. The term ''metaverse'' originated in the 1992 science fiction ...

company

Meta Meta most commonly refers to: * Meta (prefix), a common affix and word in English ( in Greek) * Meta Platforms, an American multinational technology conglomerate (formerly ''Facebook, Inc.'') Meta or META may also refer to: Businesses * Meta (ac ...

Exhibitions

Two major museum exhibitions of his work were held in 1984–85 (in Paris, at the Grand Palais; and in New York, at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

) and in 2001 (Tübingen, Germany). "These efforts countered the persona of the humble, oblivious naïf by detailing his assured single-mindedness and tracked the extensive influence his work exerted on several generations of vanguard artists," critic Roberta Smith wrote in a review of a later exhibition. A major exhibition of his work, "Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris", was shown at the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

from 3 November 2005 to 5 February 2006, organised by the Tate and the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

, where the show also appeared. The exhibition, encompassing 48 of his paintings, was on display at the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

in Washington from 16 July to 15 October 2006 and at the

Grand Palais The (; ), commonly known as the , is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine, France. Construction of the began in 1897 following the demolitio ...

in Paris from 15 March to 19 June 2006.

Gallery

File:Henri-Julien-Félix Rousseau, French - Carnival Evening - Google Art Project.jpg, ''A Carnival Evening,'' 1886,

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

, Philadelphia, PA File:Henri Rousseau - Myself- Portrait – Landscape - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Self Portrait'', 1890,

National Gallery Prague The National Gallery Prague (, NGP), formerly the National Gallery in Prague (), is a state-owned art gallery in Prague, which manages the largest collection of art in the Czech Republic and presents masterpieces of Czech and international fine a ...

File:Henri Rousseau - Le Moulin.jpg, ''Le Moulin (The Mill)'', c. 1896,

Musée Maillol The Musée Maillol is an art museum located in the 7th arrondissement at 59–61, rue de Grenelle, Paris, France. History In 1964, Dina Vierny donated Maillol's monumental sculptures to the state. André Malraux, Minister of Culture, installs t ...

, Paris File:Boy on the Rocks - 1895-7 - Henri Rousseau.jpg, '' Boy on the Rocks'', 1895–1897,

, Washington, D.C. File:La Bohémienne endormie.jpg, '' The Sleeping Gypsy'', 1897,

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York File:Douanier Rousseau tour Eiffel.jpg, ''La tour Eiffel peinte par Henri Rousseau'', 1898, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas File:Henri Rousseau - Self-portrait of the Artist with a Lamp.jpg, ''Self-portrait of the Artist with a Lamp'', 1903 File:Henri Rousseau - The Merry Jesters.jpg, ''The Merry Jesters'', 1906, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA File:Henri Rousseau - The Flamingoes.jpg, ''The Flamingoes'', 1907, Private collection File:HENRI ROUSSEAU - La Encantadora de Serpientes (Museo de Orsay, París, 1907. Óleo sobre lienzo, 169 x 189.5 cm).jpg, ''The Snake Charmer'', 1907,

, Paris File:Rousseau theRepastOfTheLion.jpg, '' The Repast of the Lion'', c.1907,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, New York File:Henri Rousseau - Exotic Landscape.jpg, ''Exotic Landscape'', 1908, Private collection File:Henri Rousseau - Fight Between a Tiger and a Buffalo.jpg, ''Fight Between a Tiger and a Buffalo'', 1908,

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...

, Cleveland, Ohio File:Henri Rousseau - Vue de pont de Sèvres.jpg, ''View of the Bridge in Sevres and the Hills of Clamart, Saint-Cloud and Bellevue with biplane, balloon and dirigible'', 1908, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts File:Henri Rousseau - Combat of a Tiger and a Buffalo.jpg, ''In a Tropical Forest Combat of a Tiger and a Buffalo'', 1908–1909,

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

, St. Petersburg File:Henri Rousseau - The Football Players.jpg, ''The Football Players'', 1908,

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

, New York Image:La muse inspirant le poète.jpg, ''Muse Inspiring the Poet'' (Portrait of

and Marie Laurencin), 1909,

Kunstmuseum Basel The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the oldest public art collection in the world and is generally considered to be the most important museum of art in Switzerland. It is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance. Its lineage extends ba ...

, Switzerland File:The Equatorial Jungle.JPG, ''The Equatorial Jungle'', 1909,

, Washington, D.C. File:Henri Rousseau - Bouquet of Flowers (Tate Gallery).jpg, ''Bouquet of Flowers'', 1910,

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, London File:Henri Rousseau - Portrait de Monsieur X.jpg, ''

'', 1910,

Kunsthaus Zürich The Kunsthaus Zürich is an art museum in Zurich. It is the biggest art museum in Switzerland by area and houses one of the most important art collections in Switzerland, assembled over time by the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, a nonprofit art soc ...

, Switzerland

References

External links

Henrirousseau.org
118 works by Henri Rousseau
Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris, at the National Gallery of Art

Brief introduction to the artist's life and art. Entry contains links to two large reproductions of Rousseau paintings in the National Gallery of Art, a 4th grade lesson relating Rousseau's paintings to ecology, and hands-on activities suitable for classroom or home study.

*
''The Sleeping Gypsy''
in the MoMA Online Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Rousseau, Henri 1844 births 1910 deaths People from Laval, Mayenne 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French Post-impressionist painters Naïve painters Self-taught artists Burials at the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux 19th-century French male artists Deaths from thrombosis Deaths from surgical complications