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Henri Rousseau was born in Laval, France known as one of the greatest 'naïve artists', a term applied to painters with no formal expertise, working with bright colours, and with an innocent perspective. He painted many landscapes and portraits throughout his career, one of his most famous works being a literal combination of the two, 'Myself. Portrait-Landscape'.He is probably best known for his jungle scenes, the 'Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!)' and 'The Dream'. He claimed these images were inspired by his time in the army serving in Mexico but it is more likely that zoos and illustrated books were his sources. His nickname was "Le Douanier" ,was given by his friend, the poet Alfred Jarry,in reference to his day job as a toll collector at a city gate in Paris. It translates to "the customs officer," which sounds much more elegant than "toll collector." The name caught on amongst Rousseau's artist friends and persists to this day. Henri Rousseau paintings are from the elegant 'Avenue in the Parc de Saint-Cloud' to the grotesque 'Boy on the Rocks'. His untrained eye gave him a freshness of vision and his vivid imagination gave rise to some fantastic scenes. His attention to detail was also very precise even when working on a large scale. What characterises Rousseau's paintings and perhaps all the 'naïve painters' or 'primitives' was the real urge for self-expression and the fulfilment that is evident in the paintings they produced. Another characteristic these painters was poverty and so Rousseau died penniless, was buried in a pauper's grave and it was only later that his paintings began to achieve a reputation.
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