Outskirts of Paris
Henri Rousseau (French, 1844–1910)
c. 1897–1905
- Medium
- oil on fabric
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Framed: 56.5 x 65.5 x 8 cm (22 1/4 x 25 13/16 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 37.8 x 45.8 cm (14 7/8 x 18 1/16 in.)
- Culture
- France, late 19th Century-early 20th Century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
In addition to his large jungle scenes, Rousseau also painted small landscapes, including this view of a river or canal on the outskirts of Paris. While retaining a sharp, detailed rendering of objects, Rousseau has abandoned the flat tonality of his earlier works for more blended modeling and freer brushwork. The volumes of the clouds, trees, and houses occupy distinct areas in space, revealing the serenity of an organized world. A self-taught painter who, at the age of 41, quit his job in the Paris municipal toll or tax service to devote himself entirely to art, Rousseau was widely admired by avant-garde artists for his intuitive sense of design and inventive subjects.
