Description

First ridiculed, then admired

Henri Rousseau’s position as a painter in Paris around 1900 might be summed up by the title of this work: The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope. Having been the butt of ridicule and scorn in the late 1800s, at the start of the 1900s Henri Rousseau found himself a revered artist of the avant-garde. His breakthrough came in 1905 with The Hungry Lion. Does it show Henri Rousseau launching himself upon the art world like a hungry lion?