Paintings full of mystery

The “Secrets” of the exhibition title also refers to the canvases Rousseau painted, which have more questions than answers.

His flattened compositions have the simplicity of folk art. Most of the faces of his figures are facing squarely forward, and with rare exception, nobody is seen in profile.

His compositions also show a sophisticated draftsmanship, precise brushwork and inspired use of color. His famous “The Sleeping Gypsy,” borrowed from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, features a multicolored pinstriped dress, echoed by her hair and the strings of a lute lying beside her. In some of his nighttime jungle paintings, the background foliage is layered black on black, creating subtle shifts of depth.

Almost all his paintings have an element of fantasy. The jungle paintings, which gained popularity toward the end of his life, have bizarre shifts of perspective and proportion, with gigantic flowers, trees that don’t quite make sense, deformed animals and incongruous figures, such as an American Indigenous person fighting a gorilla in what seems to be a botanical garden.

Rousseau never traveled outside of France and had no idea what a jungle actually looked like.

“What we do know is that Rousseau was really inspired by visits to the botanical gardens in Paris,” Ireson said. “He went often to the Jardin des Plantes, which is in the city, and there he would enter the hot houses. He really loved seeing those different species of plant.”

Green described Rousseau as a story giver, not a storyteller.

“He gives you the materials for a story, but he doesn’t necessarily tell you how you’re going to tell this to yourself,” he said. “It’s very suggestive and sometimes quite ambiguous.”