Henri Rousseau

Rousseau, Henri-Julien Felix
Rousseau, Henri le douanier

French, 1844 - 1910

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Five monkeys rest and play amid a lush jungle landscape in this horizontal landscape painting. Painted with areas of flat color, thick vegetation fills most of the scene, with giant leaves overlapping in shades of green. At the bottom center, a large brown monkey sits upright on a rock, looking directly at us. To our left, two gray and black monkeys climb in trees, and also face us. To our right, two rust-orange monkeys swing in trees. The orange of their fur is echoed in spiky, pumpkin-orange flowers to the right. Dark red leafy plants with spiky white flowers fill the lower left corner of the painting. A cloudless, pale blue sky stretches across the top of the composition. The artist signed and dated the painting with white letters in the lower right: “Henri Rousseau 1910.”
Henri Rousseau, Tropical Forest with Monkeys, 1910, oil on canvas, John Hay Whitney Collection, 1982.76.7

Tropical Forest with Monkeys

Henri Rousseau · 1910 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1982.76.7

Two animals with golden yellow, brown, and black fur peer out from behind dense jungle foliage in this stylized, vertical painting. Most of the composition is filled with broadly painted areas of sage, olive, moss, and lemon-lime green to create an impenetrable wall of plants and growth. An oval of slate-blue sky to the left of upper center is framed by plants that grow up and off the top corners of the painting. Small in scale and nestled back among the growth near the lower center, the animal to our right has black eyes that look at or toward us, a long nose, and gray around its mouth and eyes. It has triangular ears and its body, which extends to our right, is dark brown with a lifted tail. To our left, another smaller animal, perhaps a baby, is mostly obscured by a fern frond and grass. This animal has small black eyes and chestnut-brown and black fur. Three large, stylized flowers with fuchsia-pink centers and pale petals grow above the animals, to our left. An oversized white hyacinth grows to our right. A narrow, brick-red bird sits on a branch above the pink flowers, almost lost among the plants. The artist signed and dated the lower right corner, “Henri Julien Rousseau 1909.”
Henri Rousseau, The Equatorial Jungle, 1909, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.213

The Equatorial Jungle

Henri Rousseau · 1909 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.213

A pale-skinned boy with round, almost doll-like proportions sits on pointed rocks in front of a pale blue sky in this slightly stylized, vertical painting. The boy’s body and face are square to us. His dark hair is neatly parted to our right and combed smooth. He looks out with over-large, close-set, dark eyes under curved brows, a straight, adult-like nose, and wide, full pink lips. He has a round face, smooth, flushed cheeks, and a wide, cleft chin. He wears a black jacket that falls open over a skirt-like white garment painted with a black grid. His stockings are white with thin black stripes, and he wears ankle-high black boots. The craggy rocks on which he perches are painted with tones of peanut and ash brown. A strip of turquoise green beyond the rocks suggests a body of water under the blue sky. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, “H. Rousseau.”
Henri Rousseau, Boy on the Rocks, 1895/1897, oil on linen, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.63

Boy on the Rocks

Henri Rousseau · 1895/1897 · oil on linen ·  Accession ID  1963.10.63

This drawing depicts a man from the waist up, seated in a forward-facing position. The man has prominent facial features, including a strong nose and thick eyebrows. His hair is medium in length and slightly wavy, with a full beard and mustache. He is wearing a jacket over a shirt. The drawing is done in ink on a brown-toned paper. The background is plain. The artwork is framed by a simple outline, and there's a signature in the lower right corner of the drawing, with the name "H. Rousseau" inscribed below the image on the paper.
Henri Rousseau, Self-Portrait, 1895, pen and brown ink on brown wove paper, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.66

Self-Portrait

Henri Rousseau · 1895 · pen and brown ink on brown wove paper ·  Accession ID  1995.47.66

This is a drawing depicting a scene with a central figure on horseback. The image shows a figure riding a rearing horse across a tumultuous landscape. The figure holds an object raised on its left. The environment is chaotic, with abstract forms and human figures in various positions below. The background features swirling lines that enhance the sense of motion and energy. The color scheme is monochromatic, with bold lines against an orange backdrop, adding a dramatic effect to the composition.
Henri Rousseau, Alfred Jarry, Rémy de Gourmont, La Guerre (The War), 1894 (published 1895), lithograph on orange wove paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.1502

La Guerre (The War)

Henri Rousseau, Alfred Jarry, Rémy de Gourmont · 1894 (published 1895) · lithograph on orange wove paper ·  Accession ID  1964.8.1502

Beyond a dense screen of stylized, dark brown tree trunks, bending branches, and sage and moss-green leaves, a man and woman ride side-by-side on horseback and embrace in this vertical landscape painting. Both people have pale skin. Closest to us, two spindly trees almost reach the top edge of the canvas, their stylized leaves silhouetted against the sky. Trees and bushes with laurel and dark green leaves create a band across the foreground. Near the bottom center of the composition, the woman is closer to us but she turns her face to touch noses with the man riding next to her. Long, straight blond hair flows to her waist. She has pronounced, dark eyes under heavy brows, and a large nose. She wears a burgundy-red jacket with horizontal, gold stripes across the chest. A white shirt beneath shows through where the jacket gapes open at the chest and at her cuffs. She holds the reins of her black horse in her left hand. The man turns his torso toward the woman and wraps his left arm, to our right, around the woman’s shoulders. He looks at her with black eyes under dark brows. He has a black, handlebar mustache and white hair. He wears a black and gold three-corner hat and a navy-blue jacket with gold braid in front and around the neck. His horse is brown with a silvery-white mane. Behind the people, the forest comes about two-thirds of the way up the composition. One tan-brown cloud hangs in the sky that lightens from seafoam green along the top edge to oyster white along the horizon. The artist signed the painting in the lower right: “Henri Rousseau.”
Henri Rousseau, Rendezvous in the Forest, 1889, oil on canvas, Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman, 1972.9.20

Rendezvous in the Forest

Henri Rousseau · 1889 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1972.9.20

This is a drawing of a rider on a galloping horse above a chaotic background. The drawing is created with bold, dark lines on an orange background. The rider is depicted with a flowing garment, holding a sword and a branch. The horse is captured mid-stride. Beneath the horse, there are reclining figures in various poses. Intricate line work creates textures and shapes, suggesting urgency and drama. The scene evokes a vivid and symbolic narrative tension.
La Guerre (The War), after 1895, photomechanical relief print on red coated wove paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1950.16.221

La Guerre (The War)

· after 1895 · photomechanical relief print on red coated wove paper ·  Accession ID  1950.16.221

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