A Once-in-a-Generation Henri Rousseau Exhibition Highlights the Strangeness and Luminosity of His Paintings

"There is a tremendous patience in Henri Rousseau (b. 1844), on view as part of a major exhibition at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. His Rendezvous in the Forest (1889) meticulously reproduces dense woodland foliage, a constellation of leaves blanketing the surface of the canvas and nearly concealing the illicit couple at its center. This is the work of an artist who knew how to bide his time,"

"Rousseau may have been self-taught, but he had a copyist's pass to the Louvre, the source of many 19th-century artists' educations. He was attentive to current events and incorporated them into his work. The Representatives of Foreign Powers Coming to Greet the Republic as A Sign of Peace (1907)-later purchased by Picasso-was a republican allegory in honor of the second Hague conference held in 1907. Rousseau combined representations of foreign leaders who had attended the conference with the French figure of"

The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia presents nearly 60 works by Henri Rousseau in collaboration with the Musée de l'Orangerie and loans from Paul Guillaume and MoMA. Rendezvous in the Forest (1889) exemplifies dense, meticulously reproduced woodland foliage that nearly conceals an illicit couple, demonstrating Rousseau's patient, imaginative approach. Rousseau worked as a customs agent for over two decades, earning the nickname Le Douanier, and combined self-taught practice with Louvre copyist study. His canny entrepreneurship and topicality appear in works like The Representatives of Foreign Powers Coming to Greet the Republic as A Sign of Peace (1907), a republican allegory tied to the second Hague conference.

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