Léger, another famous twentieth-century painter, became acquainted with Rousseau through the artist Robert Delaunay in 1907, and paid several visits to 'Le Douanier's' Montparnasse studio. Léger was forty years younger than Rousseau, and although his painting style was very different, he admired Rousseau's simplified forms, stylised imagery, and the way that he blended emblems of modern life such as telegraph poles and planes into his landscapes.

Fernand Léger The Mechanic 1920 National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada © ADAGP, Paris & DACS, London 2005. Photo: Bridgeman Art Library enlarge

Henri Rousseau Portrait of Monsieur X (Pierre Loti) c.1910 Kunsthaus Zürich. © 2005 Kunsthaus Zürich. All rights reserved

The pose of Léger's subject for The Mechanic (1918) echoes Rousseau's Portrait of Monsieur X (Pierre Loti), (c.1910), each figure holding a cigarette in their right hand.

Fernand Léger The Tree 1925 Sprengel Museum Hannover. © ADAGP, Paris & DACS, London 2005. Photo: Michael Herling / Aline Gwose, Sprengel Museum Hannover enlarge

Henri Rousseau The Banks of the Bièvre near Bicêtre 1908 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York enlarge

Rousseau's influence can be discerned in a number of works that Léger produced long after Rousseau's death. Compare Rousseau's snake-like branches in The Banks of the Bièvre near Bicêtre (1908) for instance, to the bare branches of Léger's The Tree (1925).

View other works in the Tate Collection by Fernand Léger