Portrait de Madame M.

1886–1893

Twenty paintings in seven years: ridicule and friends

Over the next seven years Rousseau, dividing his time between work, family and painting, showed about twenty pictures at the Salon des Indépendants; the public barely noticed them and critics kept mocking them, but his friends, the Impressionist painters, supported him, valuing his spontaneity and sincerity.

late 1880s – early 1890s

Loses nearly all of his family

In the next few years after his wife’s death Rousseau lost the rest of his family as well, except for one daughter, whom he sent to live with relatives. The most notable work of these years was his self-portrait of 1890.

1891

First serious review: Vallotton on the tiger

In 1891 “Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!)” was exhibited, and the young painter Félix Vallotton wrote that the tiger surprising its prey was not to be missed — “the alpha and omega of painting.” It was Rousseau’s first serious review; he did not return to his jungles for more than a decade.

1893

Retires from the civil service to paint

In 1893, at the age of 49, Rousseau retired from the civil service on a modest pension to devote himself entirely to painting.

after 1893

Meets Alfred Jarry

Soon after leaving his post Rousseau met the talented young poet Alfred Jarry, who was struck by the oddity of his work and introduced him to the circle of intellectuals around the avant-garde journal Mercure de France, in whose pages a favourable review of his art appeared.

1894

“War” at the Salon des Indépendants

“War,” shown at the 1894 Salon des Indépendants, began Rousseau’s wider fame: the picture earned praise in Mercure de France, and its powerful allegorical message convinced many connoisseurs that he was no ordinary landscape painter.