The Snake Charmer

Rousseau's painting use flat, clear colours, which he sharply defined with a simplified outline. He is best known for his jungle scenes, which he claimed were the product of a trip to Mexico, but were more likely derived from studying animal and plant life at the zoo and botanical gardens in Paris. The Snake Charmer is a late and accomplished work that, through its exotic mystery, reveals a more conscious side to his primitive art. The furtive atmosphere is created through the presence of the unlikely inhabitant and the haunting stillness of the darkened mass of vegetation.

Taken from the A - Z of Art


	The painting used on the dust jacket for the US publication of Merrick.
	The Snake Charmer ~ Henri Rousseau Born Laval, France 1844; died Paris, France 1910 Henri Rousseau gained his nickname "Le Douanier" because he began to paint while working for the Paris customs office. He retired from the sevice in 1885 and devoted his life to his art, producing naive and direct paintings of great sophistication. Although untrained, Rousseau had great faith in his own abilities. From 1886, he exhibited almost every year at the Salon des Indépendants, a place where artists could show thier work without being subjected to a selection procedure. Picasso was particularly impressed by his talent, holding a banquet in his honour in 1908.	The Snake Charmer ~ Henri Rousseau 1907; oil on canvas; 169 x 189.5 cm; Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France
	Rousseau's painting use flat, clear colours, which he sharply defined with a simplified outline. He is best known for his jungle scenes, which he claimed were the product of a trip to Mexico, but were more likely derived from studying animal and plant life at the zoo and botanical gardens in Paris. The Snake Charmer is a late and accomplished work that, through its exotic mystery, reveals a more conscious side to his primitive art. The furtive atmosphere is created through the presence of the unlikely inhabitant and the haunting stillness of the darkened mass of vegetation. Taken from the A - Z of Art
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