Henri Rousseau

Henri Rousseau: Catalogue of the Exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler offers a comprehensive reappraisal of the work of Henri Rousseau, situating his paintings

within both their historical context and their lasting impact on modern art. The publication brings together key works from across Rousseau’s career, with particular attention to his jungle scenes, portraits, and urban landscapes.

Often described as a self-taught or “naïve” painter, Rousseau is presented here as a highly conscious and methodical artist whose pictorial language defies conventional academic categories. Essays in the catalogue explore his distinctive approach to space, scale, and pattern, as well as his deliberate rejection of perspectival realism in favor of a flattened, dreamlike vision.

The book also examines Rousseau’s influence on the avant-gardes of the early twentieth century, including artists associated with Cubism and Surrealism, who admired the radical clarity and imaginative autonomy of his work. Richly illustrated, the catalogue emphasizes the tension in Rousseau’s paintings between apparent simplicity and complex compositional structure.

By combining scholarly essays with high-quality reproductions, the publication provides a nuanced understanding of Rousseau’s artistic position—between tradition and modernity—and underscores his role as a key figure in the redefinition of painting at the threshold of the twentieth century.