00:01A unique exhibition opens this Wednesday at the Orangerie in Paris.
00:06Some 50 works by Le Douanier Rousseau, including 18 from the Bairns Foundation in Philadelphia,
00:12are on display in an effort to pay tribute to a painter who was often mocked during his lifetime.
00:18The exhibition Henri Rousseau, The Ambition of Painting, highlights the career of a painter labeled as naïve.
00:25He is a painter that we have considered very early as naïve.
00:30The first critics who see his works at the Salon des Indépendants refer to his naïveté.
00:34He is a painter who is also self-didact, but who has benefited from an education,
00:39even if he has not followed any artistic training.
00:42Le Douanier Rousseau, who began painting shortly before turning 50,
00:46found inspiration in illustrated books featuring wild animals and through visits to the Jardin des Plantes.
00:52To set himself apart from other artists, Henri Rousseau, who always wanted to make a living from his art,
00:59sought to diversify his genres and techniques.
01:02His style is particularly evident in his scenes of lush jungles populated by wild animals,
01:07such as the painting The Hungry Lion throws itself on the antelope.
01:11It is an art that speaks to children because it is very direct.
01:14And I think that today, more than ever, we will see in these works their strength and modernity.
01:22It comes from a dream, but it comes from something that touches us, I would say,
01:26quite directly in our dreams, but also in our anxieties.
01:31The exhibition will also feature the painting The Sleeping Gypsy on loan from MoMA in New York,
01:37one of his masterpieces, but also one of his most mysterious works.
01:41The world of Le Douanier Rousseau is on display until the 20th of July.
01:45.
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