French ‘post-impressionist’ ‘naive’ or ‘primitive’ artist Henri Julien Félix Rousseau or Henri Rousseau was born to a plumber in Laval, in 1844. He showed a great interest in music and drawing as a child and also won many prizes at the school. . Initially, he served as a lawyer, later joining the army during 1863-1867. Henri Rousseau moved to Paris in 1868 to care for and support his mother, as his father died unexpectedly. He worked as a government employee and rose to the position of tax collector in 1871. Although Henri Rousseau was passionate about painting, he did not take it seriously until he was in his forties. At the age of 49, he took up art as a profession and retired from his job. He was a self-taught painting genius, whose skillful, imaginative and talented work still shines through in his paintings, including “The Sleeping Gypsy”, and is praised by the world to this day.
Rousseau was a great painter and his most famous paintings, including “The Sleeping Gypsy Woman”, depict jungle scenes. Interestingly, the artist had never encountered anything ‘wild’ in his life. During military service, he met soldiers and heard stories about subtropical countries and the animals there. This gave her enough food for his thoughts. Henri Rousseau’s paintings seemed flat and childish to many people who could not understand his talent, which led to many critics who endlessly ridiculed his work. A number of established artists also disliked Henri’s unique style of work and considered him ‘uneducated’. Undeterred, the artist stuck to his naive and childish style of painting, full of flat figures, free imagination and ‘realism’. He began to exhibit his work and increased the number of his ardent followers, especially ‘would-be cubists’.
Rousseau’s most famous painting, “The Sleeping Gypsy Woman (La Bohemienne endormie)”, an oil on canvas, created in 1897, brought him much international fame. In this Landscape with an ‘impressionist’ touch, the painter portrayed a wandering female (a black) musical artist in a deep sleep, in a moonlit bare desert, with a serene lion pondering her. It seems that the gaze of the lion is fixed on the sleeping woman, dressed in an oriental costume. A mandolin player and a pitcher of water, the woman’s only obvious possessions, are shown next to her.
The subject and objects in “The Sleeping Gypsy” are sharply outlined with balanced rhythmic lines and curves. The lion man and the pattern of the gypsy’s dress have been made with meticulous precision. Crystalline hues adorn the painting, imparting a perfect lighting effect. Measuring 51″ x 6′ 7″, “The Sleeping Gypsy” is an icon in the ways of ‘Modern Art’. This painting has also inspired the field of music and poetry. Many artists created a replica of the painting, as a tribute to Henri Rousseau, replacing the lion with some other animal.
Henri Rousseau exhibited “The Sleeping Gypsy” at the thirteenth ‘Salon des Indépendants’ and tried to sell it to the mayor of Laval, but to no avail. It eventually entered the private collection of a Parisian dealer and was there until 1924. Simon Guggenheim bought it and gave it to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, United States, where it is currently on display, in 1939. Henri Rousseau moved to a studio in Montparnasse in 1893 and worked there until 1910, the year of his death.