Henri Rousseau

Henri Rousseau (1844–1910) was born in Laval, the son of a tinsmith. After four years in the army he moved to Paris in 1868, and from 1871 he worked as a collector of the octroi, the tax on goods entering the city, which earned him the nickname Le Douanier. He began painting seriously in his early forties, without formal training, and retired in 1893 to paint full-time. From 1886 he exhibited regularly at the Salon des Indépendants, where his work drew a growing following despite the ridicule of critics. His best-known paintings are jungle scenes, though he never left France; he drew on illustrations in children's books and the botanical gardens of Paris. Picasso, having come across one of his paintings for sale on the street, gave a banquet in his honour in 1908, and Rousseau's work went on to influence Léger, Beckmann and the Surrealists. Here: Notre Dame.