First published in Vintage Art, Jetwings Magazine, May 2014.
Cover Image – Henri Rousseau’s The Dream, 1910 (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
Henri Rousseau began painting in earnest only once he was past the age of forty. Though he would later be recognised as one of the most outstanding Post-Impressionist artists in the Naïve or Primitive tradition, he spent three decades working as a toll booth inspector—not even living up to his sobriquet, Le Douanier, the customs officer. Finding little acceptance among prevalent academic painters on the 19th century art scene, he veered towards the avant-garde movement, where there were patrons who appreciated his aesthetic and bought his paintings.
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