Henri Rousseau Gallery
Henri Rousseau (1844-1910)
Henri, from Laval, France, and dubbed “Le Douanier” (customs officer) after his occupation found primitive art late in life. He at once mastered a landscape formula, and beginning after 1904 created more than twenty large fanatistic jungle paintings. They evidence his mastery of a formal language, oblivious of convention, that owes nothing to traditional methods. The images, smooth, vivid, and clearly defined, are flat and fluid against dense but dimensionless greenery, and although unreal and extraordinary, are rendered in meticulous botanical detail.




Viewer

Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!)
1891 Oil on canvas 129.8 x 161.9 cm.  
National Gallery, London
 
This is the first of the jungle scenes on which Rousseau's fame chiefly depends. This painting was exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1891 with the title 'Surpris!'. It was later described by the artist as representing a tiger hunting explorers.

Rousseau claimed that he had gained knowledge of the jungle while serving as a regimental bandsman in Mexico in the 1860s, but this seems to be a fiction and his paintings were probably inspired by visits to the botanical gardens in Paris and by prints. The figure of the tiger may have been based on a print after a pastel by Delacroix.
Centennial of IndependenceFootball PlayersTiger and BullFortificationsSurprisedFightExotic Landscape
Renowned Artists Gallery index (61 galleries)

Other Parts of the Permanent Gallery
Digital Color Winners 2004 and 2005

Digital Color Winners 2002 and 2003

Digital Color Winners 1999, 2000 and 2001
Watercolor Painters

Oil Painters

Pen and Pencil Artists
Photographers

Sculptors

Authors