Le douanier as medium? Henri Rousseau and spiritualism: towards the end of his life, Henri Rousseau was often discussed with reference to the supernatural. As Nancy Ireson explains, spiritualism—like 'the primitive'—was one of the keys with which contemporary critics sought to understand his personality and art

Apollo, June, 2004 by Nancy Ireson

In March 1910, the critic Arsene Alexandre interviewed Henri Rousseau in his Montrouge studio, where the artist was working on one of his jungle pictures. As he was about to leave, the critic noticed an extraordinary canvas entitled Le Present et le Passe (Fig. 1), which he described for his readers. The image is autobiographical; it shows Rousseau and his second wife, both smartly dressed, in a landscape setting. Above the heads of these figures hover the ghostly presences of their former spouses; at the foot of the painting a poem is inscribed that explains how the couple will remember their lost loves. Noting Alexandre's interest, the Douanier added his own comments. 'It is a philosophical painting, said Henri Rousseau to me, 'it is a little spiritualist, isn't it?' (1)

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

The critic made little of this strange comment, but stressed the word spiritualist in his text. 'I could not answer this question', he writes, 'But I went away happy, reflecting upon this evidence'. Declining to come to any firm conclusion, Alexandre drew his article to a close with a curious-and suggestive--comment: 'If the success and beauty of our works do not depend entirely on ourselves ... our good intentions make us the most privileged of a higher species'.(2)

The 1910 Montrouge interview introduces the idea that the artist was interested in spiritualism, or was of interest to spiritualists, but it is just one of several occasions on which his name appeared in conjunction with a reference to the supernatural. (3) Art historians have ignored such references, attributing them to the anecdotal aspects of the Rousseau myth, yet they are significant. The subject of 'Rousseau and spiritualism' merits attention because it can be used to illustrate broader trends in the Douanier's critical fortune. These 'spirit' anecdotes are one of the richest examples of how art writers tackled the new interpretative difficulties that Rousseau's work presented; they are some of the clearest articulations of how the Douanier was seen as 'different'.

To gain a sense of some of the critical responses that connect Rousseau with the supernatural, it is helpful to look closely at two more accounts left by the artist's early admirers. The first of these appeared in 1911, in the first biography of the Douanier, written by the art dealer Wilhelm Uhde. Here, as might be expected, the author paid considerable attention to Rousseau's background and life. Happily, the result constitutes a truly perceptive account of Rousseau's social context. However, coupled with recollections of the soirees hosted by the artist at his studio, or quotidian details of the Douanier's existence, Uhde featured bizarre stories and comments that associate the artist with the spirit life. This, at times, makes for rather strange reading. The best known of the accounts reads as follows:

   His passion for work, his
   willpower and self worth, lifts
   Rousseau above the ranks of
   ordinary men. He is a model and
   source of serenity. Old people come
   to him, hounded by unhappiness
   and believing all is lost. Silently,
   they sir in a corner close to him
   and his presence alone gives them
   hope. They have faith in life when
   they see how this old man is strong
   and steadfast. Seated before them,
   he paints one of his large
   landscapes; unexpectedly he pauses
   a little, for the afternoon is hot.
   Then they see him let his brush
   wander over the canvas once more,
   a strange expression upon his face.
   'Didn't you see how my hand
   moved?' he asks.

   'That's completely normal,
   Rousseau, because you're painting'.

   'No', he replies. "It's my poor
   wife who was here and who leads my
   hand. You didn't see or hear her?
   "Take heart, Rousseau", she tells
   me, 'you'll carry this one through
   to a successful conclusion".'(4)

For Uhde, it seems as though the idea of Rousseau being spiritually gifted excused the banality of the artist's petit bourgeois existence, and made him stand out from his social equals. In Uhde's account the artist's closeness to the 'spirit' world is effectively offered as a possible explanation for the unconventionality of his work and person; his 'visionary' art is presented as the product of a 'visionary' individual. In a strange reversal of biblical language, Uhde would go on to number Rousseau amongst 'the poor in spirit who possess the kingdom of heaven', and explain that the painter could capture 'states of soup with a Christ-like love. The Portrait d'une femme, for instance, was taken as an example of Rousseau having captured that of a 'strange and neurasthenic being' (Fig. 4).5 It was this talent, as well as his self-confidence and love of work, which for Uhde helped remove Rousseau from the 'ranks of ordinary men'. Recognising the artist as 'different' in this way also excused the fact that Rousseau's portraits bore little formal resemblance to their sitters. He could thus explain how the Douanier: 'would consider a man in his entirety and would only pay sufficient attention to the face if it bore the features of his soul'.(6)