Landscape with Cow 1886

Henri Rousseau’s ‘Landscape with Cow’ is made with oil paint on canvas. The smooth surfaces, and the distinct outlines of the figures, suggest a deliberate control of the medium. The painting has a naive quality, as Rousseau was a self-taught artist. But notice that in this work, he gives us both idealized nature and the traces of the industrial revolution: the rural landscape in the background, and a solitary cow, evoking simpler agrarian lifestyles. While the painting style suggests a lack of formal training, there is a very specific attention to the physical world. The work invites us to consider how labor and production are embedded within seemingly simple scenes. It suggests the intersection of human industry and the natural world, prompting reflection on the changing social landscape of the artist’s time. By focusing on material, making, and context, we recognize the deep meaning and cultural significance of a work like this, and the ways in which it challenges the conventions of art making itself.