View of the Bridge at Sevres and the Hills at Clamart St. Cloud and Bellevue 1908

"View of the Bridge at Sevres and the Hills at Clamart St. Cloud and Bellevue" was made by Henri Rousseau, likely in the late 19th or early 20th century, using oil on canvas. Rousseau's application of paint is smooth and deliberate, carefully building up layers to create a sense of depth and texture. The materiality of the oil paint, with its inherent qualities of viscosity and luminosity, allows for the creation of rich, vibrant colors and subtle gradations of tone, resulting in a naive appearance and dreamlike quality to the landscape. But consider also the social context. The image includes not only a traditional bridge and landscape but also a factory smokestack, as well as signs of modernity in the sky: airships, a balloon, and an early airplane. Rousseau here is showing us the world as it was then being remade, with new technology and a shifting society. He is doing so not with sophisticated technique, but with simple directness, collapsing any distinction between high art and ordinary life.