Sleeping gypsy. Striped masterpiece by Henri Rousseau

It would seem that Henri Rousseau depicted an ominous scene. A predator crept up to a sleeping person. But there is no feeling of anxiety. For some reason, we are sure that the lion will not attack the gypsy.

Moonlight gently falls on everything. The gypsy's dressing gown seems to glow with fluorescent colors. And there are a lot of wavy lines in the picture. Striped robe and striped pillow. Gypsy hair and a lion's mane. Mandala strings and mountain ranges in the background.

Soft, fantastic light and smooth lines can not be combined with a bloody scene. We are sure that the lion will sniff the woman and go on about his business.

Obviously, Henri Rousseau is a primitivist. Two-dimensional image, deliberately bright colors. We see all this in his "Gypsy".

But the most amazing thing is that being self-taught, the artist was sure that he was a realist! Hence such “realistic” details: the folds on the pillow from the lying head, the mane of the lion consists of carefully prescribed strands, the shadow of the lying woman (although the lion has no shadow).

An artist deliberately painting in a primitivist style would ignore such details. The lion's mane would be a solid mass. And about the folds on the pillow, we would not talk at all.

That's why Rousseau is so unique. There was simply no other such artist in the world who sincerely considered himself a realist, in fact he was not.

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English version of the article

Main illustration: Henri Rousseau. Sleeping gypsy. 1897 Museum of Modern Art in New York (MOMA)