Scout Attacked by a Tiger 1904

Henri Rousseau made this painting, Scout Attacked by a Tiger, sometime before his death in 1910, using oil on canvas. Look closely, and you will see that there’s a distinct contrast in the piece between the dark shades used for the jungle and the bright colours for the characters. It’s as if the artist is setting up a stage. The textures are fascinating, aren't they? The leaves are carefully painted, almost like individual cutouts, with a smooth, glossy finish. And the tiger! Those stripes, so meticulously applied, give the animal a certain flatness, almost like a child’s toy. The scout's clothes are rendered with thick, opaque paint, which adds a sense of weight and presence to the figure. The moon in the top left corner has a beautiful diffused quality. Rousseau’s approach reminds me a bit of the American painter, Milton Avery, with a similar simplification of form and a love for bold, flat colour. Like Avery, Rousseau invites us to see the world anew, embracing ambiguity.