The Pink Candle
1908 The Phillips Collection
About this artwork
This still life features a pink candle in a holder alongside a dark bottle, a small piece of cheese, and several fruits on a white cloth. The work is painted in the artist's characteristic self-taught, simplified style.
Did you know?
Henri Rousseau, a self-taught tax collector who painted in his spare time, was famously nicknamed 'Le Douanier' (The Customs Officer). Despite the mockery of contemporary critics who viewed his work as overly simplistic or naive, his bold use of color and flattened perspective garnered admiration from avant-garde masters like Picasso and Gauguin, who saw his lack of formal training as a source of pure, authentic creative genius.
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The Pink Candle
Henri Rousseau, 1908
