Women Walking in an Exotic Forest by Henri Rousseau: a Metaphor Or Self-explanation

Art has many different forms and styles, all unique to the artist who is holding their chosen medium to the canvas. In Henri Rousseau’s painting Women Walking in an Exotic Forest, there can be multiple interpretations of the image, because of first glance and after performing research. The image can be seen as a metaphor for the world, however there is a much simpler reason for the painting.

The interpretation that is perceived as a metaphor is because the style of the painting has so many small, and probably missed details that can explain the whole meaning behind the image. The painting displays a girl wearing a pale pink dress, standing behind some enlarged trees and flowers. Look at the boldness of the lines, they are not fine but thick and it makes the painting have the ability to belong in a child’s story book. However, because of the intricateness of the lines it allows for a different purpose for them being bold, as well the other details within the paintings help this separation from a child’s story book. The easily over looked detail is that all the plants around the women are unnaturally larger than what they necessarily should be; the proportions are off in accordance to reality. These are the proportions because the woman is supposed to appear small, even being the focal point of the painting; it is supposed to make her seem irrelevant. The flowers are larger than her and the leaves are blocking part of her, it metaphorically means that in a world that is so large, one small person does not seem relevant. The painting would actually not fit into a children’s story book, because it is not necessarily ‘sad,’ but it is not exactly ‘happy’ either. The painting evokes a feeling of insignificance, Rousseau made the plants unnaturally big on purpose, because the women is peeking out to the world, and if people do not look hard enough she is easily missed.

However, researching the artist Henri Rousseau and him as a primitive painter, brings about a different interpretation of The Women walking in an Exotic Forest. Rousseau is a primitive artist who constantly believes in the ‘noble savage’ life. Rousseau did not like to enjoy the life of the city, he liked the ‘savage’ lifestyle because they did not care for fashion, neither working themselves to the point of exhaustion, and basically lived a simple day to day lifestyle. Rousseau had a lot of similar reasons for being a primitivistic artist as Paul Gauguin. Gauguin did not like Paris and viewed it as being grey, dirty, and no one was together, he liked how people in Tahiti lived. Gauguin saw, “civilization from which (people) suffer. Barbarism which is a rejuvenation”. Rousseau relates to this statement because when he stopped making a living at the age of forty-nine, in order to become a full-time painter. He did not care about being part of the city life, or having responsibilities because all he wanted to do was paint jungles and forests. He got so in depth in his painting lifestyle that his two surviving children had to be taken care by their aunt and uncle, because Rousseau neglected them for a bachelor lifestyle. Rousseau is seen as a primitivism artist because he did not paint modernity, but he painted things that were simple, and not necessarily seen as sophisticated. The painting of The Women walking in an Exotic Forest displays this type of unsophistication, it is simply a woman walking in a forest and the garden seems enlarged, as well Rousseau was known for not painting in human hands and fingers. Most of his paintings are usually animals or people in some type of jungle, and this is because he loved to go to the Jardin des Plantes, which inspired the large trees that reached up to the green houses glass ceiling. The reason why he drew the jungle was because he simply liked the garden in Paris because of the beauty it produced, and the trees and plants were all so large like the trees in the painting of the women in the jungle. The woman is most likely smaller than the plants around her because when he was in the Jardin des Plantes he felt small beside all the large beautiful plants.

The Women walking in an Exotic Forest can have two different types of interpretations, because of certain details. When first analyzing the painting, it appears as a metaphor for a large world and a woman being seen as oblivion because she is just peeking over the world. However, after researching Rousseau and his style of painting, it is most likely he painted that image because he loved how large the trees appeared in a garden, and it made him feel small in comparison. His primitivistic style reflects in this painting because it is simple, and not technically sophisticated because of the bold lines and colours, that can mistake the painting for a child’s story book. The painting reflects how Rousseau enjoyed living his life in Paris, and can allow for deeper meanings when in reality he just painted the gardens he loved to view and feel inspired.