Suburban Paris

Malakoff, 1898
Henri Rousseau
oil on canvas, 45,7 × 55,2 cm
National Gallery of Prague
photo: Wikimedia Commons

More familiar with Rousseau's jungle scenes, I recently came across one of his suburban landscapes. Rousseau's jungle and forest scenes are sizeable canvasses, and were produced for Salon shows in Paris in the late 19th c. These canvasses didn't make Rousseau a living, so he painted more intimate canvases of suburban Paris to sell and support himself.

We are used to seeing a thriving metropolis of Paris during this time, but Rousseau focuses on the modest every day of citizens. In contrast to Rousseau's large canvasses which are bold and bright and exotic, there is a familiarity in these smaller paintings that I like very much. In addition to the simple shapes that earthly colors that fill up the canvas.