Henri Rousseau - Surprised! Note Card

Surprised! / Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surpris ! / Tigre dans une tempête tropicale), painted in 1891 in oil on canvas by French Naïve artist Henri Rousseau, known as Le Douanier, was the first of the imaginary jungle paintings for which he became famous. Exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants that same year, it shows a tiger caught in a violent tropical storm, although Rousseau deliberately leaves uncertain whether the animal is startled by the lightning or stalking unseen prey. Rousseau never visited a tropical jungle; his exotic vegetation drew partly on plants observed in Paris botanical gardens and on his imagination. Intriguingly, contemporary accounts mention prey in the scene, and Rousseau later referred to the picture as A Tiger Chasing Explorers, suggesting that elements may have disappeared as he reworked the canvas.