The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia has opened a major exhibition, 'Henri Rousseau: A Painter's Secrets,' featuring around sixty works, including the institution's own iconic Rousseau paintings. The survey, co-curated by Nancy Ireson and Christopher Green, aims to present a cohesive look at the self-taught artist's career.
Les Rousseau américains de retour à Paris
The Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris is hosting a landmark exhibition titled "Henri Rousseau, l’ambition de la peinture," featuring 50 works by the self-taught master. The show is distinguished by a historic loan from the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, which has sent nine paintings to France for the first time since they were acquired a century ago by Albert Barnes. A highlight of the exhibition is the rare gathering of three "manifesto paintings"—The Sleeping Gypsy, Unpleasant Surprise, and The Snake Charmer—displayed together in a dedicated gallery.
The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia is opening "Henri Rousseau: A Painter's Secrets" (October 19–February 22), reuniting for the first time in over a century the two largest collections of Rousseau's work—18 paintings from the Barnes Foundation and 11 from the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. The exhibition, co-curated by Nancy Ireson and Christopher Green, uses new conservation research to challenge the long-held myth of Rousseau as a naive, unworldly amateur, revealing instead a strategic artist who revised compositions, reused canvases, and actively sought an audience through Paris's open salons.