Rousseau, a dreamer and self-taught artist who created fantastical jungle scenes without ever leaving Paris, once said, “Nothing makes me so happy as to observe nature and to paint what I see. Just imagine, when I go out into the countryside and see the sun and the green and everything flowering, I say to myself ‘Yes indeed, all that belongs to me!’”
–Heidi Hirschl Orley, Curatorial Expansion Project Manager