In late October, the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia opened the first major retrospective dedicated to Henri Rousseau. The Musée de l’Orangerie, which houses Europe’s premier collection of works by the great so-called “naïve” painter, is now happily taking up the baton with some 50 works on display. Juliette Degennes is the French representative among the exhibition’s three curators. Born into a modest family, Henri Rousseau (1844–1910) worked successively as a lawyer’s clerk in Nantes and a soldier in Angers for five years, before leaving for Paris in 1868, where he first worked as a bailiff’s clerk and then for the city’s tax office. In 1872, he tentatively began his career as a painter, entirely self-taught. In 1886, he participated in the Salon des Indépendants, a salon without a jury! Sarcasm from the official critics… In 1891, Valloton admired his first jungle painting, and a few friendly encounters helped him get by on very little. Around 1906, he met the art critic and dealer Wilhelm Uhde, and quickly attracted the attention of the most avant-garde artists and art dealers of the time, including Ambroise Vollard. In 1909, Vollard bought several of his works, which enabled him to acquire his first studio. But he died the following year from gangrene in his leg. Penniless and with no friends to turn to, he was buried in a mass grave. Posthumous glory…

Excerpt from Christian Noorbergen’s article published in issue No. 117 of the magazine Art Absolument.

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