Henri Rousseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier (the customs officer), a humorous description of his occupation as a toll collector. Ridiculed during his lifetime, he came to be recognized as a self-taught genius whose works are of high artistic quality.

His best-known paintings depict jungle scenes, even though he never left France or saw a jungle. Stories spread by admirers that his army service included the French expeditionary force to Mexico are unfounded. His inspiration came from illustrated books and the botanical gardens in Paris, as well as tableaux of taxidermy wild animals. He had also met soldiers during his term of service who had survived the French expedition to Mexico, and he listened to their stories of the subtropical country they had encountered. To the critic Arsène Alexandre, he described his frequent visits to the Jardin des Plantes: "When I go into the glass houses and I see the strange plants of exotic lands, it seems to me that I enter into a dream."... More • http://en.wikipedia. ... i_Rousseau View • Books • Images • Videos • Search Related • Painters • 1890s • 1900s • Flora • France • Gemini • Industrial Revolution • May 21 • Painting • Paris • 19th Century • 20th Century • People