Sarah Jane Black / 23 January 2025 / Categories: People, Creative

Henri Rousseau

Rousseau’s Secrets at The Barnes Foundation 2025

Event date: 19/10/2025 10:30 - 22/02/2026 18:00 Export event

I love art. I am not an art buff or expert in anyway but I am left in awe at the translation of natural reality into observational canvas or sculpture, the creativity and “listening” to what to artist is telling us through our own eyes.

Henri Rousseau was the very first famous artist I was ever properly exposed to. Of course I had seen Van Gogh sunflowers and self portrait in poster form, Monet and Renoir’s famous picture post cards impressionist paintings instantly recognisable just like Jackson Pollocks paint splashes, David Hockney’s swimming pools and

Edvard Munch Scream or Rene Magrets apples and bowler hats.

Like many I have a blanket art experience that would possibly get me through an episode of Jeopardy or the Chase but would render me mute in the specialist subject mastermind chair.

My art teacher introduced me to Henri Rousseau at about 14. The bold almost interior textile in style prints appealed to me immediately when I was young. The animals, wild and jungle like in theme, detailed illustrations hidden inside dense dark green forestation, thick and lush, I found exciting and captivating as a young, not so talented artist.

Although I didn’t have a natural ability, I did enjoy sketching and drawing and would often spend hours working on pieces that didn’t quite turn out as I’d hoped.

I am not an artist but studying and appreciating the work of Henri Rousseau over the years has brought me a much deeper appreciation of the artist’s journey and what drives them to create.

I love a gallery or museum, it’s sort of a guilty pleasure for me, to sneak off and enjoy an hour or two, encased in silent walls surrounded by inspiration and beauty.

Henri Rousseau is an artist the youngest children can enjoy but that doesn’t mean the work isn’t complex and deep, it’s that too.

Although you can see unbelievable examples of Rousseau’s work at the Tate Modern and National Gallery in London, to the Getty in Los Angeles and MoMA and the Guggenheim in NYC, Rousseau best known for his bold pictures of the jungle, teeming with flora and fauna. Yet this painter of exotic locales never left France. The biggest collection of his work in Paris is the Musee D’Orsay, a relatively small yet beautiful gallery on the banks of the Seine, somewhere I absolutely love.

For Rousseau fans across the world The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, USA is hosting an exciting exhibition on the scale of Tate Modern’s Rousseau in the Jungle back in 2005.

The exhibition entitled Rousseaus Secrets will run from 19th October, 2025.

I am not sure I’ll get there in person but will be watching all the talks and previews online for sure.