Rousseau, Henri Julien Félix (1844–1910)

French painter. A self-taught naive artist, he painted scenes of the Parisian suburbs, portraits, and exotic scenes with painstaking detail, as in Tropical Storm with a Tiger (1891; National Gallery, London). He was much admired by artists such as Gauguin and Picasso, and writers such as the poet Apollinaire.

Rousseau served in the army for some years, then became a toll collector (hence Le Douanier ‘the customs official’), and finally took up full-time painting in 1885. He exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants 1886–1910 and was associated with the group led by Picasso and Apollinaire. His work has been seen as an anticipation of surrealism.

Among his best-known works are The Sleeping Gypsy (1897; Museum of Modern Art, New York), The Snake Charmer (1907; Musée d'Orsay, Paris), and The Football Players (1908; Guggenheim Museum, New York).