Where can you see Henri Rousseau in New York?

At the Museum of Modern Art: The Sleeping Gypsy and The Dream. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Repast of the Lion. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

What is Henri Rousseau's most famous work in New York?

The Sleeping Gypsy, of 1897, at the Museum of Modern Art. A woman in a striped robe sleeps on the sand beside her mandolin and a jar of water, under a full moon. A lion stands over her and does not touch her.

When and where was Henri Rousseau born?

On 21 May 1844, at Laval, France. Henri Rousseau died on 2 September 1910, at Paris, France, aged about 66.

What is Henri Rousseau known for?

Worked as a toll collector until he was forty-nine. Painted jungles from the hothouses of Paris, and never left France. The Dream was his last finished painting. Henri Rousseau was a French painter, of Naive painting.

Painter, 1844 to 1910

Henri Rousseau

Henri Rousseau collected tolls at the gates of Paris, taught himself to paint, and was laughed at for most of his life. He painted jungles and never left France.

Born: 1844, Laval, France
Died: 1910, Paris, France
Movement: Naive painting
In New York: 3 works in 2 museums

Where to see Henri Rousseau in New York

Each work with the museum it hangs in. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.

The Museum of Modern Art2 works

The Sleeping Gypsy
1897
A woman in a striped robe sleeps on the sand beside her mandolin and a jar of water, under a full moon. A lion stands over her and does not touch her.
The Dream
1910
A nude woman on a red sofa finds herself in a jungle of giant leaves and lotus flowers, with two lions, an elephant and a dark figure playing a pipe. Three metres wide, and his last word.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art1 work

The Repast of the Lion
about 1907
A lion eats a jaguar among flowers taller than itself, under a white sun.

The life of Henri Rousseau

Rousseau was born at Laval in 1844 and worked for more than twenty years in the Paris toll service, which is why he is called the Douanier, the customs man. He began to paint in his forties and retired at forty-nine to do nothing else. His tigers and palms came from the hothouses of the botanical garden and from picture books.

The official art world thought him a joke. The young painters did not: Picasso gave a banquet in his honour in 1908. He died two years later, a few months after finishing The Dream. Both of the pictures at MoMA were gifts, the Gypsy in 1939 and The Dream in 1954.

What to know

Worked as a toll collector until he was forty-nine
Painted jungles from the hothouses of Paris, and never left France
The Dream was his last finished painting

Born: 21 May 1844, Laval, France
Died: 2 September 1910, Paris, France

Henri Rousseau: common questions

Where can you see Henri Rousseau in New York?: At the Museum of Modern Art: The Sleeping Gypsy and The Dream. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Repast of the Lion. Museums move and lend their works, so check before a special journey.
What is Henri Rousseau's most famous work in New York?: The Sleeping Gypsy, of 1897, at the Museum of Modern Art. A woman in a striped robe sleeps on the sand beside her mandolin and a jar of water, under a full moon. A lion stands over her and does not touch her.
When and where was Henri Rousseau born?: On 21 May 1844, at Laval, France. Henri Rousseau died on 2 September 1910, at Paris, France, aged about 66.
What is Henri Rousseau known for?: Worked as a toll collector until he was forty-nine. Painted jungles from the hothouses of Paris, and never left France. The Dream was his last finished painting. Henri Rousseau was a French painter, of Naive painting.