Henri Rousseau

Henri Rousseau (1844–1910) was a French painter whose unusual style became one of the most recognisable forms of early modern art. Born in Laval, he moved to Paris and spent much of his working life as a municipal employee before eventually devoting himself entirely to painting. He had no formal academic training and developed largely as a self-taught artist. During his lifetime, critics often described his paintings as “naive” because of their simplified forms, flat spaces and unusual proportions. Rousseau, however, considered himself a serious professional painter and actively sought recognition within the Parisian art world. He exhibited regularly at the Salon des Indépendants from the 1880s and gradually attracted the attention of younger avant-garde artists and writers. His best-known works are his imaginary jungle paintings, filled with dense vegetation, exotic animals and mysterious human figures. Interestingly, Rousseau never travelled to a tropical jungle; instead, he drew inspiration from botanical gardens, zoos, books, magazines, postcards and exhibitions in Paris. His work eventually attracted artists including Pablo Picasso and writers such as Guillaume Apollinaire. Today, Rousseau is regarded as an important figure in modern art because he transformed ordinary visual sources into strange, dreamlike worlds that challenged conventional ideas about artistic skill and realism.

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