Barnes's spectacular Rousseau ends Feb. 22

 

Portrait of a Woman in a Landscape, 1899, Barnes Foundation.  This may be Rousseau's mother who died the next year.  The church spire is like that found in the artist's hometown, Laval. The forget-me-not flowers symbolize remembrances.

It's not too late to jump on board a train and head up to Philadelphia  to the Barnes Foundation for Henri Rousseau:  A Painter’s Secrets which leaves the station on February 22, 2026.

It's the largest Rousseau exhibition in 20 years, with works from museums around the world, and it's the first time in almost 40 years that the Barnes is loaning some of its collection to another institution, the co-developer of Rousseau's Secrets, the Musee de l’Orangerie in Paris where the show travels next. 

The memorable Snake Charmer, 1907, Musée d'Orsay.  How many snakes can you find?

Unpleasant Surprise, 1899-1901, Barnes Foundation. The label copy asks:  Is she a victim, or does she rise against the violence?  ('Splain!)

Eve in the Earthly Paradise, 1906-07, on permanent loan from the Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen

The Musee de l’Orangerie has the world's second largest Rousseau collection (11) following the Barnes with the largest (18). 

For the first time in 100 years, the show reunites some Rousseaus and brings together several which have never been together: The Sleeping Gypsy (1897), Unpleasant Surprise (1899–1901), and The Snake Charmer (1907). 

Because he created the Snake Charmer after The Sleeping Gypsy was sold, Rousseau never got to see them together.

Tropical Landscape - An American Indian Struggling with a Gorilla, 1910, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Tropical Forest with Monkeys, 1910, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Fight between a Tiger and a Buffalo, 1908, Cleveland Museum of Art. Rousseau said a client commissioned Fight for 5,000 francs but Rousseau could only collect 200 francs from an art dealer.

In the galleries in January/photo by Patricia Leslie

Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) was a self-taught French post-impressionist who didn’t take up painting until he was in his early 40s. Wikipedia calls him a “self-taught genius” although many, during the artist's lifetime, thought his work was amateurish and child-like.  (Tell that to the buyer who paid $43.5 million for Rousseau's 1910 Les Flamants in 2023.)

His only teacher, Rousseau said, was nature.

He never left France to observe and draw the jungle scenes and wild animals he anthropomorphized with human faces for he found inspiration at a greenhouse, at Paris's Natural History Museum, in children’s books and listening to French soldiers talk about their experiences in Mexico.  

The Pink Candle, 1908, Phillips Collection

The Family, 1892-1900, Barnes Foundation. Rousseau still owned this when he died.  He grew up in a wine-making region of France where his sister, daughter, and granddaughter still lived when he died. The label points to all the consternations in the painting:  unhappy people, especially the women, perhaps because, with the exception of the seated woman, none of the ladies drink!

Child with a Doll, 1892, Musée de l'Orangerie. The doll seems almost as big as a giant baby bottle! Note the little girl's feet rooted in the grass. The label copy notes the extreme care the artist devoted to this work. Rousseau and his wife had six children, five of whom died early.   

The Wedding, 1905, Musée de l'Orangerie, which Rousseau was unable to sell, even for 300 francs.

In the galleries in January/photo by Patricia Leslie

Rousseau's The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope was exhibited at the first showing of The Fauves in 1905 where his painting may have influenced the name of the group. ("Fauve" in French means "wild animal" or beast.) 

In 1908 Picasso hosted a memorable banquet in Rousseau's honor, a party still referenced decades later and attended by Guillaume Apollinaire, Juan Gris, and Gertrude Stein, among others.

Rousseau tried to make a living as an artist but did not succeed, documented by his reuse of canvases and alterations to please  clients.

In the galleries in January which overflow with almost 60 Rousseaus/photo by Patricia Leslie

War, 1894, Musee d'Orsay. Perhaps Rousseau was reflecting on the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 and the Paris Commune of 1871, when he lived in Paris.

Among the many recognizable names Rousseau influenced were and are Picasso, the Surrealists (where a huge exhibition on Surrealism runs through Feb. 16 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art), the poet Wallace Stevens, Sylvia Plath, singer-songwriter, Joni Mitchell, and ... Meta.

In his younger years, Rousseau worked for the government as a tax collector which he left at age 49 to pursue art fulltime. 

Rousseau was curated by Christopher Green, professor emeritus at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, and Nancy Ireson, deputy director for collections and exhibitions at the Barnes, with the support of Juliette Degennes, curator at the Musée de l’Orangerie.

An eight-page color synopsis of Rousseau and his works is available at no charge at the exhibition and, in the shop, a hardcover, 336 page catalogue sells for $65.

Blake Gopnik's biography of Dr. Barnes, the Maverick's Museum is also sold in the shop, an unforgettable book which drew me back to the museum.  (You see what books can do!  And I took three friends.)

What do Rousseau's paintings mean?  It's up to you.

They can serve as springboards to imagination and evolve into personal stories.  Each contains sources for more than one novel! Let your imagination run wild...like Rousseau's!

At the Barnes/photo by Patricia Leslie

What:  Henri Rousseau:  A Painter's Secrets

When:  Thursday - Monday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., through Feb. 22, 2026

Where:  The Barnes Foundation, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, ph. 215-278-7000

How much: Two-day tickets are $30 (adults) and $28 (seniors). Students are $5 and members receive free admission.

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