Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867). The voice of the forest

Relegated to the rank of ‘tartouillades’, ‘bastard works’ and other ‘indigestible’ creations by Étienne Jean Delécluze [1] in 1850, Théodore Rousseau’s paintings were not finished enough in the art critic’s eyes. ‘And what does it matter if these sketches say more than the finished paintings! And first of all, what on earth is a finished painting? [2]’ replied François Sabatier-Ungher. Théophile Gautier agreed, admiring ‘the fierce harshness and savagery of the sketch [3]’. If today’s public is easily seduced by Rousseau’s landscapes, it is not necessarily aware of the boldness shown by their author, nor of the controversy they provoked in their time.

1. Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867)
The Fairy Pool, Forest of Fontainebleau, 1848
Oil on canvas - 59.1 × 114 cm
Private collection
Photo: Petit Palais

See the image in its page

We must do justice to the Musée de Meudon, which in 2013 devoted an exhibition to this painter neglected by French museums (see article). After being honoured by the Getty in Los Angeles and the Glyptothèque in Copenhagen (see article), Théodore Rousseau is now the subject of an exhibition at the Musée des Peintres de Barbizon [4] and above all at the Petit Palais in Paris (ill. 1). On this occasion, he is presented as an ecologist before his time, a teasing and irritating anachronism that responds to the aspirations of our time, more than it sheds any light on the painter’s work.

2. Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867)
The Massacre of the Innocents, 1847
Oil on canvas - 95 × 146.5 cm
The Hague, Mesdag Collection
Photo: Mesdag Collection, The Hague

See the image in its page

Nevertheless, this exhibition and its catalogue have the great merit of placing Rousseau’s art in context. As early as 1829, the artist departed from academic teaching and distanced himself from his master, Jean Charles Joseph Rémond, a neoclassical painter of historical landscapes. He wanted to study reality, to represent nature for…