Henri Rousseau Tiger
Saturday, July 26th, 2008
Henri Rousseau liked his jungle pictures. He loved nature. So much so, in fact, that almost every one of his paintings seems to have some kind of animal in it. But there’s no animal more expressive that that of the tiger in his 1891 oil-on-canvas work Tiger in a Tropical Storm (aka Surprised!). And in fact it was actually the first of Rousseau’s jungle paintings.
At the time of its unveiling Tiger in a Tropical Storm received rather mixed reviews and did not do terribly well. Which is a shame, because it’s a lovely picture. The look of terror on the tiger’s face gives nature a new face: the tiger isn’t just some faceless monster anymore, it’s a complex animal with a concept of fear. And even though the painting is static you can tell it has something to fear, as all the plants in the picture are gusting in the same direction (though, oddly, the tiger’s tail isn’t affected).
Apparently Rousseau himself said that it was about to pounce on a group of explorers. But that doesn’t seem right, does it? The tiger looks mortally afraid, somehow. Perhaps it’s the wideness of the eyes that brings it to life.
Who knows. As always, the painting is open to interpretation by its viewers, and that’s why it’s a good one.