Barnes Foundation Presents World Premiere of Landmark Exhibition Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets

Building on a comprehensive research study, this exhibition unites important paintings for the first time and connects collections separated for more than a century

October 19, 2025–February 22, 2026

Philadelphia, PA, August 7, 2025—In fall 2025, the Barnes Foundation presents Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets, a landmark exhibition of paintings by the self-taught artist Henri Rousseau (1844–1910), featuring works from the Barnes collection and museums around the world.

With 18 paintings by Rousseau, the Barnes is home to the world’s largest collection of works by the artist, and the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, with 11, is home to the second largest collection. This exhibition brings together these important collections, providing an unprecedented opportunity to see works that the French art dealer Paul Guillaume either owned—now in the Orangerie’s collection—or sold to Dr. Barnes. Some of these paintings will be reunited for the first time in more than 100 years, while others have never been exhibited together.

Co-curated by Christopher Green, consulting curator, professor emeritus at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, and Nancy Ireson, Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions & Gund Family Chief Curator at the Barnes, with the support of Juliette Degennes, curator at the Musée de l’Orangerie, Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets is on view in the Roberts Gallery from October 19, 2025, through February 22, 2026. The exhibition is sponsored by Morgan Stanley and Comcast NBCUniversal.

Exceptional loans from major museums, including The Sleeping Gypsy from the Museum of Modern Art, New York, make this exhibition the most significant presentation of Rousseau’s work in decades. With nearly 60 works on view, it will also be the largest US presentation of his art since 2006. For the first time ever, three of Rousseau’s major works will appear in the same space: The Sleeping Gypsy (1897, MoMA), Unpleasant Surprise (1899–1901, the Barnes), and The Snake Charmer (1907, Musée d’Orsay, Paris). Not even the artist himself witnessed this grouping, since by the time he made The Snake Charmer, The Sleeping Gypsy was no longer in his possession.

Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets offers a unique opportunity to learn more about one of the most popular, yet least understood, modern artists. New technical study of the Rousseau works at the Barnes has provided fresh insight into how and why the artist painted in such a distinctive way. In close collaboration with Christopher Green, the Barnes’s conservation team has transformed our understanding of Rousseau’s approach. This in-depth research—conducted between 2021 and 2024—resulted in many discoveries, including five underlying paintings, eight reworked compositions, and revised dating of five paintings. Green proposed, and exacting conservation work confirmed, that two seemingly unrelated paintings were created simultaneously by Rousseau as part of a competition to decorate a town hall in the suburbs of Paris.

The exhibition and accompanying catalogue invite visitors to look beyond the myths that surrounded Rousseau after his death—when many critics characterized the painter as naive and uneducated—to discover an artist who engaged with modern life and thought deeply about what might appeal to potential buyers. Themes of the exhibition include “Capturing Community,” which highlights Rousseau’s paintings for and of his neighbors, who held jobs as small business owners, shopkeepers, and clerks, and “Playing to the Crowd,” a spectacular selection of jungle paintings from his later years, when he was celebrated by progressive painters in Paris and beyond. These themes and more are explored in greater detail in the catalogue’s essays, by Ireson, Degennes, and Martha Lucy, deputy director for research, interpretation and education at the Barnes.

“Dr. Barnes’s lasting fascination with the work of Henri Rousseau compelled him to purchase 18 paintings by the artist between 1923 and 1929, making ours the largest collection of Rousseau paintings in the world,” says Thom Collins, Neubauer Family Executive Director and President of the Barnes. “We are proud to partner with the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, on this landmark exhibition, which brings works from the two preeminent Rousseau collections together for the first time, alongside important paintings from around the world. Reflecting the expansion of the Barnes’s educational program and emphasizing the historical and cultural context of individual works of art, A Painter’s Secrets will delight amateurs and experts alike. With technical study as a cornerstone of the project, the Barnes once again demonstrates its commitment to conservation research. We are thrilled to share new discoveries about Rousseau’s work and practice with an international audience.”

Rousseau, though ridiculed by critics during his lifetime, was eventually lauded as a self-taught genius, and his work influenced many avant-garde artists. His biography reveals that he was not afraid to take risks. He held a position in the French civil service, in a role that imposed tariffs on goods entering Paris. He began making art while on the job and left his position in 1893 at age 51 to pursue a career as a professional artist. With a modest pension for income, he sought a market for his art, working in different genres and soliciting a variety of patrons in his quest to make a living. He experimented with subject matter over time: jungle scenes—which he created by studying the plants and taxidermied animals in Paris’s natural history museums—landscapes, portraits, and still lifes.

Rousseau’s life was full of contradictions: he was a firm believer in the secular French state who followed Spiritualism, and a convicted fraudster who—when it suited his purposes—was happy to play the innocent. Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets considers how the artist’s paradoxical life shaped his art and practice to reveal an artist who responded to the world around him in the hope of furthering his career. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue reveal the tensions in his life and emphasize the equally inconsistent qualities of his painting style. This project considers his novel practice and examines how he created a memorable, and often fabricated, image of himself. It also reveals how he painted with viewers in mind, changing his works and his story to suit their preferences.

“We hope that visitors will gain a rich understanding of Henri Rousseau as an artist through exploring the exhibition’s thematic sections, each of which illuminates a different facet of his complex and fascinating story,” say Green and Ireson. “We invite visitors to enjoy the artist’s enigmatic paintings, while considering their meaning in the light of his personal story. We are particularly excited to bring together three paintings for the very first time: The Sleeping Gypsy (1897), Unpleasant Surprise (1899–1901), and The Snake Charmer (1907). This grouping brings to light how successfully Rousseau and his paintings have kept their secrets and points to how the artist became a major figure in the history of modernism.”

Notably, Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets marks the first occasion works from the Barnes collection will be shown in a monographic exhibition. Creating space for new conversations between works—a critical aspect of education, research, and public access—the exhibition will provide visitors a rare opportunity to temporarily experience Rousseau paintings from the Barnes alongside works from esteemed institutional and private collections around the world. Following its opening at the Barnes, the exhibition will travel to the Musée de l’Orangerie in 2026, marking the first time paintings from the Barnes collection will be presented at another institution in almost 40 years.

The exhibition features 55 paintings and one lithograph, from the Barnes, the Musée de l’Orangerie, and more than 20 collections from cities around the world, including Chicago, London, New York, Switzerland, and Tokyo. Exhibition highlights include:

• The Sleeping Gypsy (La bohémienne endormie) (1897), on loan from the Museum of Modern Art, New York. This major canvas of a sleeping woman, a lion, and a mandolin in a moonlit desert landscape has not been exhibited outside MoMA for decades.
• The Past and the Present, or Philosophical Thought (Le passé et le présent, ou Pensée philosophique) (1899), from the Barnes collection, depicts the artist and his second wife on their wedding day. Images of the couple’s deceased spouses float above their heads, as if to bless the union. Rousseau often posed his subjects outdoors, surrounded by plants—both real and imagined. The term he coined for this genre was “portrait-landscapes.”
• The Snake Charmer (La charmeuse de serpents) (1907), from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, was Rousseau’s first large commission and was exhibited at the 1907 Salon d'Automne.
• Scouts Attacked by a Tiger (Éclaireurs attaqués par un tigre) (1904), from the Barnes collection, was painted during the French colonial period, when such works were popular with Parisian audiences for their theatrical presentation of faraway territories.
  

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Henri Rousseau (French, 1844–1910) produced some of the most original and recognizable artworks of the modern era. A self-taught artist who began painting later in life, Rousseau had a unique vision that is perhaps best exemplified in his jungle scenes. These captivating tableaux, based largely on visits to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, are vivid, lush, and often unsettling in the exoticism of the imaginary worlds they portray. Rousseau’s visual world was influenced by everything he encountered, from postcards and early cinema to everyday scenes in the streets and parks of Paris. He was celebrated during his lifetime by Pablo Picasso and other modernist contemporaries who recognized his contribution in opening up new realms of artistic possibility. Adapted from Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris (New York: Abrams, 2006)

ABOUT THE CO-CURATORS
Christopher Green, FBA, is professor emeritus at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. He is the author and editor of numerous volumes, including Cubism and Its Enemies (1987), which was the recipient of the Mitchell Prize for 20th-century art; Juan Gris (1993); Art in France, 1900–1940 (2000); Picasso’s ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ (2001);Picasso: Architecture and Vertigo (2005); and Cubism and War: The Crystal in the Flame (2016). His newest book, Cubism and Reality: Braque, Picasso, Gris, will be published in September 2025. He has also curated and co-curated many notable exhibitions, including Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris (Tate Modern, 2005).

Nancy Ireson, PhD, is Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions & Gund Family Chief Curator at the Barnes. Exhibitions she has curated or co-curated include Modigliani Up Close (Barnes, 2022), Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel (Barnes, 2021), Elijah Pierce’s America(Barnes, 2020), Picasso 1932: Love, Fame, Tragedy (Tate Modern, 2018), Modigliani (Tate Modern, 2017), Temptation! The Demons of James Ensor (Art Institute of Chicago, 2014), and Cézanne’s Card Players (Courtauld Gallery, 2010). At the Barnes, she manages the teams responsible for collections and exhibitions, including curatorial, conservation, registration, and publications. Prior to joining the Barnes, she held curatorial positions at Tate Modern, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery, London.

CATALOGUE
Distributed for the Barnes Foundation by Yale University Press, the publication Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets offers a comprehensive study of the 18 works at the Barnes and places them in dialogue with works from around the globe, including those from art dealer Paul Guillaume’s collection, now housed at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. Edited by Christopher Green and Nancy Ireson with contributions by Barbara Buckley, Juliette Degennes, Martha Lucy, Mina Porell, and Anya Shutova, the catalogue is an unprecedented overview of the artist’s work that considers paintings that have been apart for more than 100 years.

Green, Ireson, and Barnes conservation staff consider Rousseau’s novel artistic practice and explore his process of adapting works to new purposes. They also examine how Rousseau navigated the art world, driven by the need to market his works in the hope of furthering his career. Richly illustrated with Rousseau’s idiosyncratic jungle scenes, landscapes, portraits, and still lifes, this volume presents new findings and includes novel essays that discuss the market for the artist in the 1920s and the veiled eroticism of the painter’s jungle scenes. The Musée de l’Orangerie will publish a French version of the catalogue.

EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION
Developed in partnership with the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, Henri Rousseau: A Painter's Secrets is curated by Christopher Green, consulting curator, Professor Emeritus at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, and Nancy Ireson, Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions & Gund Family Chief Curator at the Barnes, with the support of Juliette Degennes, curator at the Musée de l’Orangerie.

Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets is on view at the Barnes from October 19, 2025, to February 22, 2026, and at the Musée de l’Orangerie from March 24 to July 20, 2026.

EXHIBITION SPONSORS
Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets at the Barnes is sponsored by Morgan Stanley and Comcast NBCUniversal.

Key support is provided by Gwendolyn M. Asplundh, The Family of Laura Buck, and Marlene and Brian Dooner. Additional support is provided by Julie Jensen Bryan and Robert* Bryan; The Dean Family; Dietz & Watson; James Fernberger and Mary Walto; Mindy and Thaddeus Fortin; Meghan and Anthony Fotopoulos; Amy Fox and Daniel Wheeler; Deborah E. Glass; Margaret Hallenbeck; Margaret Harris and Phil Straus; Penelope P. Harris; James and Pam Hill; LAGOS; Judy and Leonard* Lauder; Robert Lehman Foundation; The Lowe, Bernbaum and Weinstein Families; Barbara A. Podell and Mark G. Singer; Stephanie Simmerman; Smukler Lasch Charitable Trust; Josephine and Sam Switzenbaum; Harriet and Larry Weiss; Kristin and Tobias Welo; and other generous individuals.

Ongoing funding for exhibitions comes from the Christine and Michael Angelakis Exhibition Fund, Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Exhibition Fund, Lois and Julian Brodsky Exhibition Fund, Elaine W. Camarda and A. Morris Williams, Jr. Exhibition Fund, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Christine and George Henisee Exhibition Fund, Aileen and Brian Roberts Exhibition Fund, and Tom and Margaret Lehr Whitford Exhibition Fund.

Lead support for the exhibition publication is provided by the Richard C. von Hess Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Lois and Julian Brodsky Publications Fund, Joan Garde, and Tom and Margaret Lehr Whitford.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

In addition, funding for all exhibitions comes from contributors to the Barnes Foundation Exhibition Fund:

Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, Joan Carter and John Aglialoro, Julia and David Fleischner, Victoria McNeil Le Vine, Leigh and John Middleton, Jeanette and Joe Neubauer, and Aileen and Brian Roberts.

John Alchin and Hal Marryatt, Lois and Julian Brodsky, N. Judith Broudy, Emily and Michael Cavanagh, Marianne N. Dean, Eugene and Michelle Dubay, Penelope P. Harris, Jones & Wajahat Family, Lisa D. Kabnick and John H. McFadden, Victor F. Keen and Jeanne Ruddy, Marguerite Lenfest, Maribeth and Steven Lerner, Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, Cathy and Henry Nassau, The Park Family, Wendy and Mark Rayfield, Anne and Bruce Robinson, Adele K. Schaeffer, Katie and Tony Schaeffer, Donna and Jerry Slipakoff, Dr. and Mrs. Eugene E. Stark, Joan F. Thalheimer, Bruce and Robbi Toll, van Beuren Charitable Foundation, Kirsten White, and Randi Zemsky and Bob Lane.

*posthumous recognition

ABOUT THE BARNES FOUNDATION
The Barnes is a nonprofit cultural and educational institution that shares its unparalleled art collection with the public, organizes special exhibitions, and presents programming that fosters new ways of thinking about human creativity. The Barnes collection is displayed in ensembles that integrate art and objects from across cultures and time periods, overturning traditional hierarchies and revealing universal elements of human expression. Home to one of the world’s finest collections of impressionist, post-impressionist, and modern paintings—including the largest groups of paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézanne in existence—the Barnes brings together renowned canvases by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, and Vincent van Gogh, alongside African, Asian, ancient, medieval, and Native American art as well as metalwork, furniture, and decorative art.

The Barnes was established by Dr. Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to “promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts and horticulture.” A visionary collector and pioneering educator, Dr. Barnes was also a fierce advocate for the civil rights of African Americans, women, and the economically marginalized. Committed to racial equality and social justice, he established a scholarship program to support young Black artists, writers, and musicians who wanted to further their education. Dr. Barnes became actively involved in the Harlem Renaissance, during which he collaborated with philosopher Alain Locke and Charles S. Johnson, the scholar and activist, to promote awareness of the artistic value of African art.

Since moving to Philadelphia in 2012, the Barnes has expanded its commitment to diversity, inclusion, and social justice, teaching visual literacy in groundbreaking ways; investing in original scholarship relating to its collection; and enhancing accessibility throughout every facet of its programs.

The Barnes is situated in Lenapehoking, the ancestral homeland of the Lenape people. Read our Land Acknowledgment. Hours and ticket prices are listed on our website.

ABOUT MUSÉE DE L’ORANGERIE
The Musée de l’Orangerie is located at the heart of Paris, in the Tuileries garden, surrounded by the Seine and overlooking the Concorde Square. Its collections are composed of The Water Lilies, the monumental achievement of Claude Monet, revealed to the public during the museum opening in 1927. Presented in two huge oval rooms, the Water Liliesare the crazy project of a painter who wanted to discover all variations of the light in his garden of Giverny. Known throughout the world, this masterpiece invites endless contemplation. In the 1960’s, the Musée de l’Orangerie hosted the Arts à Paris collection, composed of works of Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Rousseau, and Soutine. This collection shows all the artistic ferment of the end of the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth century.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION
Deirdre Maher, Director of Communications / 215.278.7160, press@barnesfoundation.org
Online press office: barnesfoundation.org/press