The artist

Henri Rousseau (1844 - 1910) was born in Laval in a modest environment. Nicknamed "Le Douanier" because of his profession, he painted in his free time. Self-taught, he tried to exhibit his work at the Salon Officiel but his paintings were rejected by a mocking jury, who qualified his paintings as clumsy, naive and primitive. While his contemporaries called him an amateur, he considered himself an innovator who broke the established codes. He swears that the naivety present in his works was acquired by his "persistent work". It was in 1884, thanks to the Salon des Indépendants, without jury or reward, that he finally exhibited and found his public. Portraits, cityscapes, exotic landscapes, Rousseau died, lonely and penniless, leaving behind a wide range of works.

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