1812 -1867 · Barbizon, Fontainebleau and romantic landscape

Age-old oaks, silent ponds and changing edges make Théodore Rousseau the great interpreter of the Fontainebleau forest.

Pierre-Étienne-Théodore Rousseau was born in Paris in 1812 and died in Barbizon in 1867. Very early on, he abandoned academic teaching to work directly in front of nature, in Auvergne, Normandy, the Jura and especially in the forest of Fontainebleau. His repeated refusals to the Salon earned him a reputation as an independent painter before the revolution of 1848 and the Salon libre finally established his authority. Installed permanently in Barbizon, he became the central figure of a group of landscapers who observed the sites without reducing them to simple decorations. Established permanently in Barbizon, he became the central figure of a group of landscapers who observed the sites without reducing them to simple decorations. The large oaks of old Bas-Bréau gave trees the presence of living monuments: trunks, branches and foliage bear traces of time. In the Apremont gorges, the edges and the ponds, Rousseau combines studies on the motif and patient repetitions in the workshop. Glaze, impasto and fragmented touches build a slow light, different every hour. His attention to the fragility of Fontainebleau also leads him to defend his old trees against felling; the artistic reserve created in 1853 announces a modern awareness of natural heritage. Rousseau thus transforms the French landscape into an autonomous, historical and deeply sensitive subject. The artistic reserve created in 1853 announces a modern awareness of natural heritage. Rousseau thus transforms the French landscape into an autonomous, historical and deeply sensitive subject. The "Théodore Rousseau" selection notably compares The Great Oaks of Old Bas-Bréau and On the Edge of the Forest, near the Apremont gorges. His reading favors figures.

Rousseau paints the tree as a standing memory: each bark, each shadow and each light tells the story of the duration of the natural world.