L'étang

1836–1849

“Le grand refusé”

After 1841 Rousseau stopped sending work to the Salon until 1849; dubbed “le grand refusé”, he became known through the writings of his friend, the critic Théophile Thoré, while his father, who had at first regretted his son's forsaking business, sided with him in all his conflicts with the Salon. In these years of “artistic exile” Rousseau painted some of his best pictures: “The Chestnut Avenue”, “The Marsh in the Landes” (now in the Louvre) and “Hoar-Frost”.

1848

Settles in Barbizon for good

Until then Rousseau had lived at Barbizon only occasionally, but in 1848 he settled in the forest village (with his wife, by some accounts) and spent most of his remaining days in its vicinity. His neighbour, the landscape painter Jules Dupré, recalled how hard Rousseau found it to know when a picture was finished, and how he would sometimes carry off a canvas on which his friend had laboured too long.

1849

Returns to the Salon

In 1849 Rousseau sent work to the Salon again, and all three of his submissions were accepted. He could now obtain fair sums for his pictures, though only about a tenth of their value thirty years after his death, and his admirers grew in number.

1851

Exhibits “The Edge of the Forest”

In 1851, after the reorganization of the Salon of 1848, Rousseau exhibited his masterpiece, “The Edge of the Forest” (now in the Louvre). The authorities still ignored him: that year the Legion of Honour went to Narcisse Diaz, whom Rousseau had taught to paint trees, while he himself received the Cross only soon afterwards.

1855

Exposition Universelle: the rejected pictures acclaimed

At the Exposition Universelle of 1855, where all of Rousseau's pictures rejected over the previous twenty years were gathered together, his works were acknowledged as one of the best of the many groups exhibited.

1861

A failed auction and a run of misfortunes

After an unsuccessful auction of his works in 1861, Rousseau contemplated leaving Paris for Amsterdam or London, or even New York. A series of misfortunes followed: his wife's mental health worsened, his aged father came to depend on him for money, his patrons were few, and while he was away with his ill wife a youth living in his home, a friend of the family, committed suicide in his Barbizon cottage.