Henri Rousseau

Hikers climbing up to a Mountain Chalet

c. 1888
Black crayon, with graphite, heightened with white chalk and white pencil, on tan wove paper
38.9 × 31.8 cm (15.3 × 12.5 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

When Rousseau was a toll operator for one of Paris’s city gates, he made the decision to become an artist. With no academic training, he started copying works at the Musée du Louvre in 1884 and two years later exhibited his works with the Neo-Impressionists at the Salon des Indépendants. In this drawing Rousseau’s lack of formal training is evident in the flattened forms and odd spatial relations of the landscape. These idiosyncrasies would inspire artists such as Vasily Kandinsky and Pablo Picasso.

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