War by Henri Rousseau

The singular style of Henri Rousseau is expressed with an exceptional dramatic and allegorical force in this striking naive art composition. This powerful representation, designated under the symbolic title of “War”, constitutes a fierce and poetic denunciation of the ravages of armed conflicts. The artist departs here from his peaceful landscapes to explore a chaotic and memorable vision of destruction.

A fierce female figure dressed in a white dress and brandishing a sword rides a black steed with the appearance of a wild monster. The horse seems to fly over a battlefield strewn with numerous naked and lifeless bodies. Black crows land on the pale corpses to feed on them, accentuating the unspeakable horror of the scene. In the background, bare and charred trees stand out against a burning sky of pink and yellow clouds. The dramatic tension is reinforced by the expressions of terror on the faces and the rigidity of the limbs of the deceased on the ground.

Oil paint is handled here with an extraordinary expressive intensity to render the violent contrasts between shadow and light. The mastery of movement and the stylization of forms bear witness to a remarkable artistic audacity for his time. Rousseau signs here a masterpiece of unequaled visual power.