The dense, sodden vegetation in the colourful foreground of this painting is stark and bright against the heavy, overbearing, thunderous sky. The more you look, the more you can feel the humidity of the rainforest, the painting not only looks like a jungle it entices you to feel the jungle around you. The question is that if the surprise, is the tiger surprised by the lightning, are we surprised by the tiger or are the hunters, hidden from view but suggested by the artist, surprised at becoming prey?
This oil was painted in 1891 by Henri Rousseau and was his first jungle painting, a genre which has become synonymous with his name.
Rousseau was born in the market town of Laval in North West France in 1844. Much that is known about his life is shrouded in doubt, as he often lied about his experiences and jobs to impress his friends. What we can be certain of is that he enjoyed a normal family life and was educated in school until the age of 17. After this comes the lies- notably being forced to join the army when he was caught stealing money and cash from his job as a law clerk.
Following the success of his jungle scenes in later life, Rousseau would describe how his experience in Mexico as a regimental bandsman inspired the exotic flora and fauna, but Rousseau never left France.
He moved to a newly modernised Paris in 1868 and quickly married Clèmence Boitard. He had a child with her, who died in infancy and the marriage did not last.
He began working as a toll station inspector in 1871 and continued in the profession until he retired. Another case of Rousseau bending the truth to his advantage can be seen here. "le Douanier" means customs inspector and, dispute Rousseau readily adopting this nickname, it was a rank he never reached.
In 1880 Rousseau's first signed painting appear, depicting Parisian life and portraits of friends. He taught himself to paint and his own unique style is obvious. He allowed himself to be considered a naive painter, but he was certainly aware of academic technique and old master paintings, having taken out a copyist permit for the Louvre in 1884.
Surprise is Rousseau's first jungle painting. The vegetation is based on accurate knowledge and representation of flora Rousseau would have seen on trips to the Botanical Gardens in Paris. At the front he paints agave leaves and pointed euphorbia, a rubber plant, American fan palms and a French pinnate surround the tiger, whilst a java fig and India Bo Tree overhang the scene. The fact that all of these plants live naturally across three continents suggest again that the scene is based on the France that Rousseau saw, rather than the Mexico he lied about living in.
What is incredible though, is his accurate representation of the plants and instinctive use of colour, yet the dream-like quality he archives in his execution of the scene. He even said that "when I step into these hot houses and see strange plants from exotic lands I feel as if I have stepped into a dream".
Rousseau was consider naive by contemporary audiences and laughed at at the salon des independents where he exhibited but the avant-garde held him in high esteem. If you look closely at the original, the translucent, opalescent glaze he has applied in diagonal grey and white oil streaks across the canvas show his complex understanding of painting and his incredible skill. Again, 'naive' is probably a label the incredibly self assured artistes promoted himself.
Indeed, he used his paintings as evidence to win his acquittal when tried for fraud in 1907. So pleased was his friend Picasso, he held a soirée in honour of the occasion and claimed Rousseau was the greatest modern artist if his time.
Testimony to this are Weber's New York exhibition of his work just one year after his death.
Whilst Rousseau was a fraud and a chancer in so many ways, in so many others he was an artistic heinous who used prejudices and stereotypes to his great advantage. He would be incredibly smug to see his once-ridiculed painting hanging in such high esteem in the National Gallery today.
