Did you know that the self-taught artist Henri Rousseau never left France and thus never saw a real jungle? No, neither did I.
‘For many years derided as a wacky amateur, Rousseau made his debut at the Salon des Indépendants with his work Carnival Evening (1886), a surprising start to his future career as an artist.’ ArtLark
‘Rousseau will never be remembered for exceptional talent or skill, yet his wild imagination gave birth to wonderfully individual images which can instantly be associated with his name – a name which he signed with large, awkward letters at the corner of each painting.’ ArtLark
Take care and keep laughing!
First Night Design 
Just goes to show what the power of imagination can create. Amazing really !
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Exactly, Peter.
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I am a fan of Rousseau and have been since early childhood. Thank you for this reminder of his beautiful imagination, and yes keep smiling:)x
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Me too. Keep smiling among your hummingbirds. I keep dreaming about being in Portugal with you and wake up to work out ways I can hold a paintbrush so that I can control strokes and not be in pain.
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Keep dreaming about it and hopefully it will happen…..I would love it if you were to come.
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Art doesn’t have to be photographic to be transporting…as Rousseau proved.
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Absolutely. I certainly don’t think of him as an amateur but rather a unique and highly original artist whose work is very engaging.
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Me too! Too bad the Art World doesn’t always agree!
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Crumbs Sarah, there’s another little gem you’ve found for us that I didn’t know either and feel I really ought to have! He was splendid in his own ‘I don’t give a ….’ kind of way wasn’t he?! 🙂 I bet he told great bedtime stories!
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Splendid! I can’t remember the details now, and I can’t be bothered to check (!), but his wife and child/children died before him and he was left with only his paintings. Sad.
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😦 😦
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He is fabulous. I remember the first time I saw his jungle and the tiger in London. Amazing.
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I wanted to add the jungle and tiger one to this post but couldn’t find it on Wikimedia, unfortunately.
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Reblogged this on IMAGENES.
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love all of the stories/information you convey…
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I’m happy to hear that!
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