PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — “Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets” explores the mystery that surrounds the artist.<\/p>\n
“We really want you to feel that curiosity as you come into the space,” says Nancy Ireson, Co-Curator of “Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets.” Ireson is also the Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions & Gund Family Chief Curator at the Barnes Foundation.<\/p>\n
There are 56 works, 18 from the Barnes collection.<\/p>\n
“Dr. Barnes amassed the most important collection in the world of Rousseau’s works,” says Ireson. “And for this project, we’ve worked with the Mus\u00e9e de l’Orangerie in Paris, which has the second largest collection of 11 pictures.”<\/p>\n
They’re arranged in thematic sections, in which, Ireson says you will discover “different chapters of Rousseau’s life.”<\/p>\n
Born in France, Rousseau was educated, but not in art.<\/p>\n
“So he develops his own unique style,” she says.
“He taught himself,” says Chris Green, Co-Curator of “Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets” and Professor Emeritus at the Courtauld Institute in London. “He was doing something quite clearly very different and a lot of, most people, thought he was ridiculous, but it was very noticeable.”<\/p>\n
He carried on despite the criticism.<\/p>\n
“Rousseau was supremely self-confident, and despite the fact that people were often quite rude about his pictures, he never lost that belief. He really felt that he was an important artist,” says Ireson.<\/p>\n
He retired from his job as a customs officer in his late 40s to pursue art full-time.<\/p>\n
“Even in his earliest works, Rousseau is setting up questions for us as viewers to answer,” she says.<\/p>\n
He became known for his portrait-landscapes.<\/p>\n
“And this is a genre that he was really proud to have invented,” she says.<\/p>\n
“He’s a story giver. He’s not a storyteller. He doesn’t tell you the story. He offers you all the elements with which you can make a story for yourself,” says Green.<\/p>\n
He also captures community.<\/p>\n
“Rousseau really captures so much of his own world and he invites us in,” says Ireson. “Rousseau has a fantastic way of creating pictures that we can relate to.”<\/p>\n
He depicted a series of jungle scenes near the end of his life. The work ‘Scouts Attacked by a Tiger’ is on view, along with others.<\/p>\n
“Rousseau is, like so many French people, wrapped up in the fantasy of the faraway,” she says. “But it’s a complete drama. It’s a complete construct. If we asked ourself, could the artist possibly have seen this? The answer has to be no, and yet, we buy into the story.”<\/p>\n
“He realized that these pictures created sensation. People wanted to see them, and they came in droves to look at them,” says Green.<\/p>\n
The exhibition ends with a trio of major works shown together for the first time. They include ‘The Sleeping Gypsy,’ ‘Unpleasant Surprise’ and ‘The Snake Charmer.’<\/p>\n
“They talk to each other, and they have this thing that Rousseau has of suggesting something is going to happen,” says Green.<\/p>\n
He says although there is “danger” in all three of the works, it never actually happens.<\/p>\n
“It’s for your imagination,” he says.<\/p>\n
Ireson says you can’t help but be “swept up by feeling” viewing these works.<\/p>\n
“So really do come and experience it for yourself,” she says. “It really is unmissable.”<\/p>\n
“Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets” is on view through February 22 at the Barnes Foundation.<\/p>\n
For more information:<\/strong> The Barnes Foundation Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — “Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets” explores the mystery that surrounds the artist. “We really want…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":511617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[228716,5229,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-511616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-228716","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-pa","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115884054526836913","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
“Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets”<\/a>
Link to Tickets at the Barnes Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n
2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19130<\/p>\n