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A Centennial of Independence

Creator

French Artist · 1844–1910

Henri Rousseau attracted the Parisian avant-garde's attention at the 1886 Salon des Indépendants. Throughout his life he was ridiculed by public and critics, but leading writers and artists sought out the self-taught painter's freshness of vision. In 1885 he quit his job as a customs inspector, or *douanier,* to pursue painting full-time. Though he claimed to have served in the army in Mexico, sch

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Date: 1892
Medium: Oil on canvas
Culture: French
Department: Paintings
Institution: Getty Museum

Henri Rousseau commemorated the one-hundredth anniversary of the proclamation of the first French Republic in 1792. Peasants dance the *farandole,* a popular southern French dance, around three liberty trees and two female figures representing the First and Third Republics. Rousseau copied the dancers from a French magazine illustration but added waving banners, the liberty poles, and the allegorical figures. A wagon in the background is full of costumed musicians, reminiscent of parades the artist had seen. He used brilliant colors and solid forms to express the happiness of the scene symbolizing good government. To the right, the erect posture of the dignified republican leaders signals the solidity of the French Republic.

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