Théodore Rousseau

1812-1867

Théodore Rousseau (1812–1867) was a French painter born in Paris who became the leading figure of the Barbizon School. He established himself in the forest village of Barbizon, south of Paris, where he pioneered landscape painting as a serious artistic subject in its own right, independent of historical narrative or portraiture. His early Salon submissions were rejected for over a decade by classically-trained academicians, earning him the nickname "le grand refusé," but he remained committed to pure landscape. After 1848, his fortunes reversed; he showed gold-medal-winning works at the 1849 Salon and occupied an entire gallery at the 1855 Exposition Universelle. Rousseau's paintings are characterized by grave, melancholic intensity and meticulous finish. He spent his final years in Barbizon, where he died in 1867, recognized as a master of romantic landscape painting.