From the artist's life
Rousseau painted lush tropical jungles without ever leaving France — he studied plants in Paris botanical gardens and the zoo.
Source: Wikipedia / WikimediaSymbolism
Henri Rousseau
Henri Rousseau (1844–1910) was the self-taught naïve painter of dreamlike jungles and exotic beasts. A humble toll collector, he was mocked in his lifetime but adored by Picasso and the avant-garde.
Rousseau's bold, untrained vision helped legitimise naïve and outsider art within modernism.
- A self-taught painter who never had formal training.
- Painted exotic jungles he had only seen in Paris gardens and books.
- Championed by Picasso, who threw a famous banquet in his honour.
Key works
Where to start
Complete list of key works
Works with a dedicated ArtAtlas page are highlighted in gold.
- The DreamOn ArtAtlas
- The Sleeping GypsyOn ArtAtlas
- Tiger in a Tropical StormListed for reference
- La encantadora de serpientesListed for reference
- Myself: Portrait – LandscapeListed for reference
- Boy on the RocksListed for reference
- The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the AntelopeListed for reference
- The Muse Inspiring the PoetListed for reference
- Portrait of Monsieur X (Pierre Loti)Listed for reference
- Carnival EveningListed for reference
- La GuerreListed for reference
- The Repast of the LionListed for reference
1910
The Dream
1897
The Sleeping Gypsy
The Sleeping Gypsy is an 1897 oil on canvas painting by the French Naïve artist Henri Rousseau (1844–1910). It is a fantastical depiction of a lion musing over a sleeping woman on a moonlit night. It is held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, to which it was donated by Olga Guggenheim in 1939.