Art Eyewitness Review: Henri Rousseau Exhibit at the Barnes Foundation

 

Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets

The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia 

October 19, 2025 – Feb. 22, 2026  

Reviewed by Ed Voves

Original Photography by Anne Lloyd

It has taken three visits to the outstanding exhibition on Henri Rousseau, at the Barnes Foundation, to get my thoughts in order about this enigmatic French painter. I particularly wanted to see if Rousseau could be included in one of the classifications created for visionary artists of his temperament.

Was Rousseau a Symbolist? Was he a Surrealist before the fact, as Andre Breton later stated? Could he be considered as a Magical Realist, a category established decades after his death?

None of the above, from what I can gather.

The Barnes Foundation exhibition, organized in collaboration with the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, presents sixty works by Henri Rousseau. Many are powerful, occasionally disturbing paintings, dreamlike in some instances, nightmarish in others. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Henri Rousseau's Carnival Evening, 1886

Several of these complex, hard-to-fathom works were created early in Rousseau's career. One of these is Carnival Evening, painted in 1886. Given its sophistication, Carnival Evening makes establishing a timeline of Rousseau's creative development difficult to construct.

Quite a number of the other works on view in the Barnes exhibition are small format paintings, generally banal and lacking the air of mystery which makes Rousseau's major works so remarkable. Individually, some of these genre scenes, still life paintings and family portraits have a measure of charm. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Henri Rousseau's View of Clichy Bridge at Asnieres, c. 1900-02

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Henri Rousseau's Pere Junier's Cart (detail),1908

When viewed as a group, however, their ability to hold our interest, even as "naive" works of art, soon dissipates.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Gallery view of Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets, showing small-scale landscapes which Rousseau painted for working-class patrons.

Rousseau's lesser works are not inept, as many people viewed them at the time. Rather, they are mediocre by design. Rousseau "tossed-off" such paintings to make a quick sale in order to pay the rent and have a few francs left over for dinner. 

This was exactly the life-style of the impoverished Rousseau, whose personal life was blighted by tragedy, as well. Rousseau struggled during the whole span of his artistic career, never achieving an eventual "payday" such as Monet and Renoir enjoyed. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Two portraits by Henri Rousseau. At left, is Portrait of a Woman, 1895,  later purchased by Picasso. At right, is Portrait of Madame M., c. 1895

Indeed, one of the most striking works on view in the exhibit is a large-scale  portrait which the young Picasso purchased from a Paris art dealer who had marked it down as a canvas to be painted-over. Picasso, who had earlier considered Rousseau as something of a joke, treasured the portrait for the rest of his life.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Portrait photo of Henri Rousseau, by Dornac, 1907

Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) was a self-taught artist, driven by a desire to paint and a determination to be taken seriously. In the most famous photo of him, taken in 1907, Rousseau posed in front of one of his signature "jungle" paintings, Scouts Attacked by a Tiger. For the occasion, he wore an over-size beret worthy of a Rembrandt self-portrait and a cravat which might have come from Delacroix's wardrobe. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Henri Rousseau's Scouts Attacked by a Tiger, 1904

Such attempts at self-promotion failed miserably. When Rousseau first exhibited Scouts Attacked by a Tiger in 1904, he was ridiculed in the press. The painting was dismissed as a picture to attract a collector of "horrors" and remained unsold.

At best, Rousseau was classified as a "primitive" painter during his lifetime - when he wasn't being lampooned and derided. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Gallery view of Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets at the Barnes Foundation. The painting at center is Portrait of Frumence Biche.

If "primitive" is indeed an appropriate term to be used in consideration of Rousseau, then it is largely because he lived near the baseline of poverty and privation. This was especially so during his later years when his modest pension no longer covered expenses. 

Though ambitious for recognition and success, Rousseau approached the subjects of his art with empathy and awareness, born of the threadbare environment around him. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Henri Rousseau's The Rabbit's Meal, 1908

When Rousseau painted the portrait of a rabbit, normally raised by French peasants and townsfolk for the table, there is an evident bond between man and beast. Art scholars contend that the rabbit was likely a pet, rather than tomorrow's dinner. But Rousseau knew what it is like to live on the knife edge of mortality.

As I grappled with comprehending Rousseau's oeuvre, I recalled that he figured prominently in the later chapters of Andre Malraux's The Voices of Silence. So I reached over to my bedside bookshelf in order to consult this greatest of French art writers regarding Henri Rousseau.

Malraux referred to Rousseau as the Douanier, this being the title of Rousseau's civil service position as a customs inspector. Originally a patronizing, even insulting, reference among Rousseau's colleagues and competitors, Douanier eventually became an endearing nickname for him by the time Malraux wrote The Voices of Silence. 

The Douanier, Malraux stated, "seems to derive from nothing." Pondering Rousseau's emergence as an aspiring artist, Malraux contrasted his work with "naive" painting in France of the same period. Malraux notes :

He loves that painting, imitates it, makes it his starting point; then swerves away and, though never quite abandoning it, strikes out in his own direction. While his early works are saturated by its influence, the "Snake Charmer" belongs to another realm of art.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Henri Rousseau's The Snake Charmer, 1907

Just where the "realm" of The Snake Charmer fitted into the established art tradition is a matter of speculation. Malraux knew that there were limits even to his astute insights. Instead, he wisely let Rousseau speak for himself.

"People have said," the Douanier wrote in 1910, "that my art does not belong to this age. Surely you will understand that at this stage I cannot change my manner, which is the result of long years of persistent work."    

Work. That is the key to understanding Rousseau. He wanted to be an artist and he worked to become one. Without formal training or family connections in the art world - his father was a tinsmith - Rousseau dedicated himself to "long years of persistent work."     

 

        

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Henri Rousseau's The Wedding, 1905

Hard work and struggle against the odds no doubt explains the appeal of Rousseau to Dr. Albert Barnes. When Dr. Barnes began directly buying works of art for his Foundation in the aftermath of World War I, interest in Rousseau was rising. So were the prices of the deceased artist's paintings. No matter. Barnes purchased eighteen Rousseau masterpieces. It was - and remains - the greatest collection of Rousseau paintings outside of France. 

The eighteen Rousseau paintings amassed by Dr. Barnes provides the foundation of Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets. A similar trove of works of art comes from the collection of the Musée de l’Orangerie. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau's Child with a Doll, c. 1892

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau's War, 1894

Especially notable among the paintings on loan from the Musée de l’Orangerie and the Musée d'Orsay are two utterly dissimilar paintings. That the same artist created the immensely lovable Child with a Doll (c.1892) and the shocking War, painted a mere two years later, is almost impossible to credit.  

It is also difficult to conceive how the curators of Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets could have reconciled the many contradictions and inexplicable elements of Rousseau's life and work. Yet, that is precisely what Nancy Ireson and Christopher Green managed to achieve. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Nancy Ireson and Christopher Green at the press preview for 

Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets at the Barnes Foundation

Both curators bring outstanding credentials to the study of Henri Rousseau. In fact, they worked together on the major Rousseau exhibition, presented twenty years ago, at the Tate Modern Gallery, London. The exhibition later traveled to the Grand Palais, Paris, and the National Gallery, Washington. Green was the curator of this exhibition; Ireson, who was working on her doctoral dissertation on Rousseau, was his chief assistant.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Gallery view of Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets, showing

 Scouts Attacked by a Tiger & Fight between a Tiger and a Buffalo

The title of the 2005-06 exhibition was Jungles in Paris. Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets at the Barnes has an entire gallery devoted to Rousseau's lush, imaginary landscapes. It is virtually a complete exhibit, in itself. To do full justice to these extraordinary paintings, I will post a follow-up review in Art Eyewitness in the near future. 

Once a visitor to the Rousseau exhibit at the Barnes enters the show's last gallery. they will understand why I can hardly restrain my enthusiasm.

  

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

 Gallery view of Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets, showing

The Sleeping Gypsy, Unpleasant Surprise and The Snake Charmer

This final gallery of Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets is - without exaggeration - one of the most effective pictorial displays that I have ever seen. This is not merely a matter of technical use of space and lighting, though both are handled splendidly. Rather, in this small space, Green and Ireson have managed to summon the mental universe of Henri Rousseau to life.  

Presented here are three mighty works, never displayed together, not even in Rousseau's studio during his lifetime, until now: 

• The Sleeping Gypsy (1897) Museum of Modern Art (NYC)
• Unpleasant Surprise (1899-1901) Barnes Foundation
• The Snake Charmer (1907) Musée d'Orsay

Each of these three paintings illustrates vital aspects of how Rousseau conceived of the great questions and challenges of living. But these are enigmatic works. They leave us guessing what Rousseau's own, inner, thoughts were regarding the meaning of life. 

                            

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Henri Rousseau's The Sleeping Gypsy, 1905 (and detail) 

Does The Sleeping Gypsy depict a moment of mortal peril or is it a dream? Is this a real lion or a Jungian archetype in the unconscious mind of the gypsy?

  Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Henri Rousseau's Unpleasant Surprise, 1899-1901

Was Rousseau attempting to create an Old Master-style narrative scene with Unpleasant Surprise? Or might the many ludicrous aspects of the painting reveal that it was conceived as a mock epic, a sly reworking of the unclad heroine-in-distress motif? 

  

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025)

Henri Rousseau's The Snake Charmer (detail), 1907

Finally, when we peer into the eyes of The Snake Charmer, do we behold the hypnotic gaze of a sorceress? Or is this the piercing look of one who understands that the "state of nature" is no paradise? To live in freedom is to live with danger, as another Rousseau, Jean Jacques Rousseau, affirmed.

There are likely no definitive answers to these questions. When we take the opportunity to study these paintings in the chapel-like setting of the final gallery of the Barnes exhibit, we do indeed confront what Ireson and Green call the Rousseau enigma.

Into each of these paintings, as the curators note, Rousseau put a special effort. 

".. each of them is on one level up-front in its appeal and on another an impenetrable mystery."

These enigmas are Henri Rousseau's special gift to us. With the extraordinary works of his imagination, Rousseau invites, encourages, almost insists that we make use of our own.

***

Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved.

Original photography, copyright of Anne Lloyd

Introductory image: Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau's Carnival Evening, 1886. Oil on canvas: 46 3/16 x 35 1/4 in. (117.3 x 89.5 cm.) Philadelphia Art Museum.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau's View of Clichy Bridge at Asnieres, 1900-02. Oil on canvas: 17 5/16 x  15 3/4 in. (44 x 40 cm.) Barnes Foundation.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau's Pere Junier's Cart (detail), 1908. Oil on canvas: 38 3/16 x 50 13/16 in. (97 x 129 cm.) Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets at the Barnes Foundation, showing small-scale landscapes which Rousseau painted for working-class patrons.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Two portraits by Henri Rousseau. At left, is Portrait of a Woman, 1895. Oil on canvas: 63 x 41 5/16 in. (160 x 105 cm.) Musée National Picasso, Paris. At right, is Portrait of Madame M., c. 1895. At right, is Portrait of Madame M., 1895. Oil on canvas: 77 15/16 x 45 1/16 in.(198 x 114.5 cm.) Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Portrait photograph of Henri Rousseau, 1907 taken by Dornac (Paul Francois Arnold Cardon) Original photo, Archives Larousse, Paris

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau's Scouts Attacked by a Tiger, 1904. Oil on canvas: 47 7/8 x 63 3/4 in. (121.6 x 161.9 cm.) Barnes Foundation.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets at the Barnes Foundation, showing Rousseau's Portrait of Frumence Biche, 1893.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau's The Rabbit's Meal, 1908. Oil on canvas:19 11/16 x 24 1/8 in. (50 x 61.2 cm.) Barnes Foundation.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau's The Snake Charmer, 1907. Oil on canvas: 65 3/4 x 74 5/8 in. (167 x 189.5 cm) Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau's The Wedding, 1905. Oil on canvas:    64 3/16 x 44 7/8 in. (163 x 114 cm.) Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau's Child with a Doll, c. 1892. Oil on canvas: 26 3/8 x 20 1/2 in. (67 x 52 cm.)  Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau's War, c. 1894. Oil on Canvas: 45 1/16 x 76 3/4 in. (114.5 x 195 cm) Musée d’Orsay, Paris

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Nancy Ireson and Christopher Green at the press preview for Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets, showing Scouts Attacked by a Tiger & Fight between a Tiger and a Buffalo.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery view of Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets, showing The Sleeping Gypsy, Unpleasant Surprise and The Snake Charmer.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) The Sleeping Gypsy (and detail) ,1897. Oil on canvas: 51 x 79 in. (129.5 x 200.7 cm.) MOMA New York.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Unpleasant Surprise, 1899-1901. Oil on canvas: 76 9/16 x 51 in. (194.5 x 129.5 cm.) Barnes Foundation.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) The Snake Charmer (detail), 1907. Oil on canvas:  65 3/4 x 74 5/8 in. (167 x 189.5 cm.) Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2025) Gallery views of Henri Rousseau: a Painter's Secrets at the Barnes Foundation.