Henri Julien Felix Rousseau (May 21, 1844-Sept. 2, 1910) is well known for his primitive style post-impressionist paintings. At times criticized as childish or untutored, his work nonetheless maintains a place in history as groundbreaking and influential.

A self-taught naïve (primitive) painter, Rousseau was born in the Loire Valley to working class parents. When his family fell into debt, the young Henri became a boarder at the lycee, or local high school. He excelled there in music and drawing, winning honors for both.

After leaving high school, Rousseau dabbled briefly in law, then enlisted in the army in 1863 in the wake of a petty larceny scandal. He served for four years but never saw active duty, instead being retained as a truck driver. In 1868, Rousseau moved to Paris to support his now-widowed mother. He obtained a new job and from it, a nickname, Le Douanier (the customs officer), humorously given to him by friends, as Rousseau was in fact only a toll collector. The nickname, however, was to stay with Rousseau for his lifetime.

In Paris, "Le Douanier" met and married his first wife, Clemence Boitard, a cabinetmaker’s daughter. Clemence bore her husband nine children, of whom only seven survived. She died in 1888 of tuberculosis, after which Rousseau  would wait eleven years to take another wife (Josephine Noury, the subject of one of his paintings).

It was not until he was in his 40s that Rousseau took a serious interest in art as a career. Beginning in 1886, Rousseau's works were displayed at the Salon des Independants, a society that showcased upcoming artists. (The works of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Vincent Van Gogh were also displayed at the Salon.) Rousseau's portrayals of jungle scenes led his small but growing following to believe the man had served in harsh conditions during his tour of military duty; in reality, Rousseau never saw active combat.

Rousseau's early works, including Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!) (1881) and La Bohémienne Endormie (The Sleeping Gypsy) (1897), met with mixed and occasionally scalding reviews. Rousseau was accused of lack of classical training, a fact he never disputed, saying that he had "no teacher other than nature". He argued, however, that he had received valuable input from several established painters of the day. Rousseau's primitive style, bright colors and somewhat flat perspective, as well as exotic scenarios obviously not drawn from experience, were criticized as "childish" among the more elitist of the art community. Nevertheless, Rousseau's following grew as others saw in his work something new and influential.

By 1893 Rousseau, newly retired from his longtime job, had turned to painting full-time. He turned out an impressive number of works during the following years, including Street in the Suburbs (1896), Scout Attacked by a Tiger (1904), Woman Walking in an Exotic Forest (1905), The Equatorial Jungle (1909) and The Dream (1910). By the time of his death in 1910, Rousseau had been acclaimed by such respected artists as Pablo Picasso and recognized the world over for his unique, refreshing and charming style. Rousseau's life work is said to have had an influence on a number of painters, as well as on the surrealism movement. His works are displayed in museums around the globe.