Henri Julien Félix Rousseau 1844 – 1910 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 by critics, he came to be recognized as a self-taught genius whose works are of high artistic quality. Rousseau's work exerted an extensive influence on several generations of avant-garde artists.
Henri Rousseau commemorated the one-hundredth anniversary of the proclamation of the first French Republic in 1792. Peasants dance the farandole, a popular southern French dance, around three liberty trees and two female figures representing the First and Third Republics. Rousseau copied the dancers from a French magazine illustration but added waving banners, the liberty poles, and the allegorical figures. A wagon in the background is full of costumed musicians, reminiscent of parades the artist had seen. He used brilliant colours and solid forms to express the happiness of the scene symbolizing good government. To the right, the erect posture of the dignified republican leaders signals the solidity of the French Republic.
Sources
Copyright: Image and text have been ceded to the public domain for non-commercial use.
Painting in the collection of the Getty Museum.
Paragraph one of the text is sourced from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Rousseau whilst paragraph two is sourced from the Getty Collection http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/816/henri-rousseau-a-centennial-of-independence-french-1892/
The Art Card is the work of ColdMonkey, and is part of the Public Domain Art Project.
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