Henri Rousseau
Not much would frighten a tiger, but here is the very creature caught in a storm in the jungle. She cowers beneath driving rain and forked lighting, a fierce wind raging all around her. Her eyes are wide, but it is her anthropomorphized expression (the mouth particularly) that shows us she is confused and afraid.
As always, Rousseau (1844–1910) has used multiple layers to give the impression of spatial depth to his jungle. He has also matched the angle of the rain, the lightning, and the blowing foliage so that we get an overwhelming sense of the direction of the storm. Interestingly the tiger is moving with the weather rather than against it: will she find shelter or will she remain at the mercy of the elements?
Rousseau, as a Naïve artist, was not received well by his contemporaries initially. He had no formal education and therefore didn't fulfil the requirements for artists of his time. Perhaps he felt as though he too was trapped, like his beautiful, frightened tiger, in a situation that he could not seem to resolve.
- Sarah Mills
P.S. Let’s ride a tiger! Escape into the exotic with Henri Rousseau here! <3