Lecture - Henri ROUSSEAU Painting's ambition

Lecture presented by Juliette Degennes, heritage curator at the Musée de l'Orangerie and curator of the exhibition running from March 23 to July 27, 2026.

Thursday 23 April 2026 from 5.15 pm.

In collaboration with the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, the Musée de l'Orangerie is organizing an exhibition on the painter Henri Rousseau.

This collaboration is an obvious choice in the history of the two institutions: Paul Guillaume, whose collection forms the heart of the Musée de l'Orangerie, was Albert Barnes' intermediary for the purchase of his eighteen paintings by Rousseau. He was himself a fervent collector of the artist's work, owning as many as fifty works by the painter, if the documentary albums in the museum's collection are to be believed. The exhibition and its catalog will look back at this close collaboration between the Parisian dealer and the American collector, and more broadly at the network of collectors and dealers in which the painter was involved during his lifetime.

The exhibition also looks at the career of Henri Rousseau (1844-1910), his pictorial practice and his professional ambitions. Having come to Paris from his native Mayenne, he decided at the age of 49 to retire from the octroi service and devote himself entirely to painting. The artist was able to diversify genres and techniques to carve out a place for himself on the Parisian art scene: compositions sent to the Salon des Indépendants, responses to public commissions to decorate town halls in the Île-de-France region, portraits commissioned by his entourage, landscapes intended for sale, or even more intimate self-portraits. The exhibition aims to go beyond the legends surrounding the name "Douanier Rousseau" and take an in-depth look at his artistic career.