About The Artist - Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (May 21, 1844 - September 2, 1910)

Henri Rousseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter in the Primitive manner. Mocked during his life, Rousseau was recognized as a self-taught creative genius in the 20th Century.

About The Painting - Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!)

Tiger in a Tropical Storm (or Surprised!) was painted by Henri Rousseau in 1891 as oil-on-canvas. The Tiger is one of the initial jungle paintings for which Rousseau is mainly known. The painting shows a tiger, exposed by a flash of lightning, as he prepares to pounce on his prey while in the middle of a tropical storm.

Since Rousseau's painting was rejected by the jury of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture, he exhibited the Tiger under the title of Surprise!, at the Salon des Indépendants that was an exhibition open to all artists. The Tiger in a Tropical Storm received a mixed set of reviews.

Henri Rousseau began painting late in life. He was a self-taught painter and he painted his first famous work was the Landscape with a Windmill when he was 35. His paintings are marked by a naïveté or childish quality of composition that actually belies the technical complexity involved. Mocked by critics, Rousseau continued to paint as he pleased and today, he is recognized world-wide as a creative genius who produced some extremely high quality of work.

Despite their childish innocence and simplicity, Rousseau's jungle images were created meticulously in layers. He used many different shades of green to capture the luxuriant excitement of the jungle. Moreover, Rousseau invented his own technique to depict rain - he trailed strands of silver paint diagonally across the canvas to get the slanting rain effect.

Cleverly enough, Rousseau left the prey of the tiger out of the composition, leaving the viewers to decide who it could be. Tiger in a Tropical Storm is the first famous work of this prolific French artist.

In fact, Félix Vallotton, a young Swiss painter then, said of Tiger in a tropical Storm: "His tiger surprising its prey is a 'must-see'; it's the alpha and omega of painting and so disconcerting that, before so much competency and childish naïveté, the most deeply rooted convictions are held up and questioned."