Tiger in a Tropical Storm

Caught in the middle of a wild storm, a tiger crouches low among the swaying grasses, its eyes wide and teeth bared. Henri Rousseau painted this scene in 1891, and it was the first of the jungle pictures that would later make him famous. Slanting lines of silver rain cut across the canvas, and the leaves bend in the wind, giving the whole image a sense of movement and tension. The tiger looks ready to pounce, though we never quite see what it is hunting.

Here is the fun part: Rousseau never set foot in a jungle. He was a self-taught painter who worked as a toll collector in Paris, and he built these exotic scenes from his imagination. His sources were the city botanical gardens, the zoo, and picture books. Critics of his day often mocked his flat, dreamlike style and called it childish, but artists like Picasso saw something special in his bold, honest approach. Today Rousseau is celebrated as one of the great naive painters, and this lush, slightly strange jungle remains a favorite for its charm and wonder.