Henri Rousseau - The War Notebook

The War / Ride of Discord (La Guerre), painted in 1894 in oil on canvas by French painter Henri Rousseau, also known as Le Douanier Rousseau. The painting turns war into an apocalyptic allegory: a fierce female figure carrying a sword and torch races on a monstrous dark horse above bodies scattered across the ground. Crows feed among the dead, trees appear scorched and red clouds deepen the sense of devastation in a work first shown at the 1894 Salon des Indépendants.