La Guerre
Henri Rousseau
(1844 -
1910)
Artwork not currently exhibited in the museum
More than twenty years after the Franco-Prussian conflict of 1870 and the Commune in 1871 when the Douanier Rousseau painted War, he was still very much affected by these events. In the centre, a grimacing female character holds a sword and a torch. This kind of Bellona, Roman goddess of war, rides a horse which looks more like a hybrid monster. The dark ground is covered with a pile of bodies, with crows feeding on this human flesh. The trees look charred. The clouds are red. Without any anecdotal or narrative elements, Rousseau conveys the drama in images. The large number of jagged shapes and the choice of colours, in particular, all contribute to this: the green of hope is completely absent; black and red, the colours of mourning and blood, dominate.
Among the possible sources for War, one borrowing is clear. The posture of the horse, a sort of "flying gallop", corresponds exactly to the pose of the horses in Géricault's Epsom Derby (1821, Paris, Musée du Louvre). However, thanks to the analysis of this movement through photography, it was known during Rousseau's time that this positioning was impossible, and never occurs during a horse's gallop. Hodler's Night can also be cited as a source. In this painting, which caused a great stir when it was exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1891, the bodies stretched out parallel to the plane of the painting, the range of colours and the presence of Death in the centre of the composition, are all elements which might have been suggested to Rousseau by Hodler.
At the Salon des Indépendants in 1894, War was received either with sarcasm, due to its heavy-handed appearance, or with enthusiasm as a result of its totally independent style. Thus, the young painter Louis Roy wrote in Le Mercure de France: "this picture may well appear strange because it does not evoke anything seen before. Is that not in itself a masterly quality? [Rousseau] has the rare merit today of having a style that is completely his own. He is moving towards a new art".
Among the possible sources for War, one borrowing is clear. The posture of the horse, a sort of "flying gallop", corresponds exactly to the pose of the horses in Géricault's Epsom Derby (1821, Paris, Musée du Louvre). However, thanks to the analysis of this movement through photography, it was known during Rousseau's time that this positioning was impossible, and never occurs during a horse's gallop. Hodler's Night can also be cited as a source. In this painting, which caused a great stir when it was exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1891, the bodies stretched out parallel to the plane of the painting, the range of colours and the presence of Death in the centre of the composition, are all elements which might have been suggested to Rousseau by Hodler.
At the Salon des Indépendants in 1894, War was received either with sarcasm, due to its heavy-handed appearance, or with enthusiasm as a result of its totally independent style. Thus, the young painter Louis Roy wrote in Le Mercure de France: "this picture may well appear strange because it does not evoke anything seen before. Is that not in itself a masterly quality? [Rousseau] has the rare merit today of having a style that is completely his own. He is moving towards a new art".
Artist(s)
Title(s)
titre principal : La Guerre
autre titre : La chevauchée de la Discorde
titre principal : La Guerre
autre titre : La chevauchée de la Discorde
Date
vers 1894
[Le livret du Salon des Indépendants de 1894 où fût exposée cette toile portait la légende : "La guerre ; elle passe effrayante laissant partout le désespoir, les pleurs, la ruine."]
Others accession number
Accession number
RF 1946 1
Description
huile sur toile
Dimensions
H. 114,5 ; L. 195,0 cm.
Avec cadre : H. 139 ; L. 220 cm
Avec cadre : H. 139 ; L. 220 cm
Designation
tableau
Inscription(s)
S.b.d. : Henri Rousseau
Place of conservation
musée d'Orsay
- collection particulière, Louviers
- 1943, dans la collection Louis Angué, Louviers
- de 1943 à 1944, Galerie Terrisse, Paris
- de 1944 à 1946, Galerie E. Bignou, Paris
- 1946, acquis par les Musées nationaux (comité du 07/01/1946, conseil du 10/01/1946)
- 1946, attribué au musée du Louvre, Paris
- de 1947 à 1986, musée du Louvre, galerie du Jeu de Paume, Paris
- 1986, affecté au musée d'Orsay, Paris
Modality of acquisition
achat
Acquistion Date
1946
- Salon de la Société des artistes indépendants - palais des Arts libéraux - France, Paris, 1894, n°725
- Henri Rousseau : Le Douanier - musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris - France, Paris, 1944-1945
- Exposition d'Art français - Kunsthalle Bern - Suisse, Berne, 1946
- Mostra di capolavori della pittura francese dell'Ottocento - Palazzo delle Esposizioni - Italie, Rome, 1955, n° 96
- Mostra di capolavori della pittura francese dell'Ottocento - Palazzo Strozzi - Italie, Florence, 1955, n° 96
- De Lusthof der Naïeven - Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen - Pays-Bas, Rotterdam, 1964
- Exposition Universelle : Expo 67 - organisme inconnu - Canada, Montréal, 1967
- Exposition inaugurale - musée national d'art moderne - France, Paris, 1977
- Le Douanier Rousseau - Galeries nationales du Grand Palais - 1984-1985
- Le Douanier Rousseau - Museum of Modern Art - 1985
- 1893 : l'Europe des peintres - musée d'Orsay - France, Paris, 1993
- Rêve et réalité - Collections du Musée d'Orsay - City museum - Japon, Kobe, 1999
- Rêve et réalité. Collections du Musée d'Orsay - National Museum of Western Art - Japon, Tokyo, 1999
- Réaccrochage an 2000 - musée national d'art moderne - France, Paris, 2000-2001
- Der Zöllner. Grenzgänger zur Moderne - Kunsthalle - Allemagne, Tubingue, 2001
- Henri Rousseau : Jungles in Paris - Tate Modern - Royaume-Uni, Londres, 2005-2006
- Jungles à paris, les peintures de Henri Rousseau - Galeries nationales du Grand Palais - France, Paris, 2006
- Henri Rousseau : Jungles in Paris - National Gallery of Art - Etats-Unis, Washington, 2006
- Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne & beyond, Post-Impressionism from the Musée d'Orsay - National Gallery of Australia - Australie, Canberra, 2009-2010, cat.112, p.288-289, 67
- Post-impressionnisme - 115 chefs-d'oeuvre de la collection du musée d'Orsay - National Art Center - Japon, Tokyo, 2010, cat. n°104, p.197, reprod. p.196-197
- Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne & beyond, Post-Impressionism from the Musée d'Orsay - M. H. De Young Memorial Museum - Etats-Unis, San Francisco, 2010-2011, cat.112, p.288-289, 67
- Rêve et réalité - Seoul Art center - Corée, République de, Séoul, 2011
- Rêve et réalité - National Museum of Singapore - Singapour, Singapour, 2011-2012
- L'Art en guerre. France 1938-1947. De Picasso à Dubuffet - musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris - France, Paris, 2012-2013
- Sade. Attaquer le soleil. - musée d'Orsay - France, Paris, 2014-2015
- Henri Rousseau. Archaic Naiveté - Palazzo Ducale - Italie, Venise, 2015
- Le Douanier Rousseau. L'innocence archaïque. - musée d'Orsay - France, Paris, 2016
- Celnik Douanier Rousseau. Painter's Paradise Lost - galerie nationale de Prague - Palais Kinskych - Tchèque, République, Prague, 2016-2017
- Alfred Jarry. The Carnival of Being - The Morgan Library & Museum - Etats-Unis, New York, 2020, p. 129, repr. p. 130
General bibliography
-
Vallier, Dora, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Henri Rousseau, Paris, Flammarion, 1970, n°69
-
Lobstein, Dominique, Les Salons au XIXe siècle. Paris, capitale des arts, Paris, La Martinière, 2006, p. 264-265
-
(dir.) Cogeval, Guy, Le Musée d'Orsay à 360 degrés, Paris, Skira ; Flammarion ; Musée d'Orsay, 2013, p. 235
Exposition catalog
-
The Art of Today, cat. exp. (Buffalo, Albright Art Gallery, 1936), Buffalo, [s.n.], 1936, p. 204
-
Henri Rousseau : Le Douanier, cat. exp. (Paris, MAMVP, 1944-45), [s.n.], 1944, n°2
-
Bihalji-Merin, Oto, Le monde des naïfs, cat. exp. (Rotterdam ; Paris, 1964), Paris, Musée national d’art moderne, 1964, n° 5
-
Hoog, Michel ; Lanchner, Carolyn ; Rubin, William ; Shattuck, Roger ; Behar, Henri, Le Douanier Rousseau, cat. exp. (Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, du 14/09/1984 au 07/01/1985 ; New York, Museum of modern art, 05/02/1985 au 04/06/1985), Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1984, n° 9
-
1893, l'Europe des peintres, cat. exp. (Paris, musée d'Orsay, du 22 février au 23 mai 1993), Paris, Ed. de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1993, n° 92
-
Mathieu, Caroline ; Bascou, Marc ; Takahashi, Akiya, Rêve et réalité : collections du Musée d'Orsay, cat. exp. (Kobé, Musée Municipal de Kobé, 19 juin-29 août, 1999, Musée National d'Art Occidental, Tokyo, 14 septembre-12 décembre, 1999), Kobé, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 1999, n° 27
-
Le Brun, Annie, Sade. Attaquer le soleil, cat. exp. (Paris, musée d'Orsay, du 14 octobre 2014 au 25 janvier 2015), Paris, Musée d'Orsay ; Gallimard, 2014, p. 185 (reprod. coul.) ; p. 326
-
(dir.) Belli, Gabriella ; Cogeval, Guy, Henri Rousseau. Archaic Naiveté, cat. exp. (Venise, Palazzo Ducale, 6 mars-5 juillet 2015), Milan, 24 ORE Cultura, 2015, n° 12, p. 21, p. 48, p. 113-115, repr. p. 116-117, p. 120, p. 265, p. 274
-
(dir.) Belli, Gabriella ; Cogeval, Guy, Le Douanier Rousseau. L'innocence archaïque, cat. exp. (Paris, musée d'Orsay, 22 mars-17 juillet 2016), Paris, Hazan, 2016, n° 60, p. 21, p. 48, repr. p. 184 (détail), p. 185, repr. p. 188 et 189, p. 247, p. 254, p. 256
-
Fajt, Jiri, Celnik Douanier Rousseau. Painter's Paradise Lost, cat. exp. (Prague, Narodni galerie, 16 septembre 2016-15 janvier 2017), Prague, Narodni galerie, 2016, p. 19, p. 39, repr. p. 40-41, p. 133
-
Loyrette, Henri ; Donner, Christophe ; Bayle-Loudet, Aurore, Peindre les courses : Stubbs, Géricault, Degas, cat. exp. (Chantilly, Jeu de Paume du Domaine de Chantilly, du 16 juin au 14 octobre 2018), Paris, Flammarion, 2018, fig.29, pp. 65-66; p. 67 (reprod. coul.)
-
(dir.) Bevan, Sheelagh, Alfred Jarry. The Carnival of Being, cat. exp. (New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, du 24 janvier au 10 mai 2020), New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, 2020, fig. 21, pp. 122-125 ; pp. 128-131 (reprod. coul.)
Summary catalog
-
Compin, Isabelle ; Roquebert, Anne, Catalogue sommaire illustré des peintures du Musée du Louvre et du Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1986, vol.4, p.197
-
Compin, Isabelle [coordination] ; Lacambre, Geneviève [coordination] ; Roquebert, Anne, Musée d'Orsay. Catalogue sommaire illustré des peintures, Paris, Réunion des musées nationaux, 1990, p. 410
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