Henri Rousseau

High school (ages 12+)
Art & Creativity

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/henri-rousseau

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Henri Rousseau born?May 21, 1844, Laval, France
2. When did Henri Rousseau die?September 2, 1910, Paris, France
3. What was Henri Rousseau's job?Customs officer (Douanier)
4. What kind of artist was Henri Rousseau and what was his nickname?He was a self‑taught, “naive” painter who worked as a customs officer, so people called him “Le Douanier.”
5. How did Rousseau paint jungle scenes even though he never visited a jungle?He studied books, scientific journals, and museum specimens, then used his imagination to create lush jungles on canvas.

Outsider art: Art created by individuals who lack formal artistic training or are outside the mainstream art world.
Post-Impressionism: A broad range of artistic styles that emerged in France in the 1880s, reacting against the Impressionists' concerns with the naturalistic depiction of light and color.
Fauvism: An early 20th-century art movement characterized by strong colors and fierce brushwork.
Surrealism: A 20th-century art movement that aimed to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example, by the irrational juxtaposition of images.