The Past and the Present, or Philosophical Thought (Le passé et le présent, ou Pensée philosophique)

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FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG

This work is on display in the exhibition Henri Rousseau: A Painter's Secrets in the Barnes Foundation's Roberts Gallery, October 19, 2025 through February 22, 2026 and at the Musée de l'Orangerie, March 24-July 20, 2026. The standing figures here are the artist and his wife on their wedding day, and the little heads floating above are meant as a loving homage to their deceased spouses. Henri Rousseau painted many portraits and often posed his subjects outdoors, surrounded by plants and flowers both real and imagined. Another of his "portrait-landscapes," a term he coined for this genre, hangs across the room.

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