Henri Rousseau was a french post-impressionist painter that began painting later on in his life. Rousseau studied law after high school, served in the army for 4 years and then spent much of his life working as a toll and tax collector for the Paris customs office.
Painting as a hobby, Rousseau eventually took early retirement to focus all of his time on painting. Having never received any formal artistic instruction, he was self-taught. Many critics took his self-taught, naive style as flat and childish, ridiculing him for it. His paintings were disproportionate and exaggerated, portraying images that made it impossible to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Despite the push back from critics, Rousseau was self-confident and had quite a sense of entitlement in his work.
Rousseau’s unique style was very primitive, serving as a driving force for surrealism and other avant-garde artists such as Picasso. Appreciative of Rousseau’s work, Picasso even held a banquet in his honour, showing many of his paintings. He also heavily influenced and got to exhibit with the Fauves. Additionally, Rousseau regularly exhibited at the ‘Salon Des Indépendants’. Despite all this, Rousseau didn’t become well until shortly after his death.
Henri Rousseau is known for his jungle scenes, despite the fact that he never left France and never saw a jungle in his life. His inspiration came from children’s book illustrations, botanical gardens he visited in Paris, as well as from stories he heard from soldiers who went on the French Exhibition to Mexico while serving in the army.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Rousseau
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henri-Rousseau/Later-paintings-and-recognition