Rousseau in front of his painting Forest Landscape with Setting Sun 1910
© Collection Roger-Viollet
Date |
Life |
Times |
| 1900 | • Works as a part time sales rep for the magazine, Le Petit Journal. | • The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud is published.
• Ferdinand Zeppelin constructs his first dirigible and the first metro line opens in Paris. |
| 1901 | • Rousseau is listed as a teacher of drawing and ceramic painting in the handbook of a Paris city adult educational centre.
Rousseau in front of his painting Forest Landscape with Setting Sun 1910 © Collection Roger-Viollet  enlarge |
• Death of Queen Victoria.
• Picasso's first exhibition is held in Paris. |
| 1902 | • Charcot Antarctic expedition begins (ends in 1905). | |
| 1903 | • His second wife, Joséphine, dies.
Henri Rousseau To celebrate the baby
1903 Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Inv. Nr. 1103. Presented by the heirs of Olga Reinhart-Schwarzenbach, 1970 enlarge |
• The artist Paul Gauguin dies.
• The first Tour de France takes place and the Wright brothers make the first flights. • A Brazilian named Santos-Dumont makes a round flight from Saint-Cloud to the Eiffel Tower in less than thirty minutes. |
| 1904 | • Rousseau returns to the jungle painting genre with his Scouts Attacked by a Tiger.
• His financial debts continue to mount. |
• Entente Cordiale between France and England. |
| 1905 | • The artist participates in the Salon d'Automne and his painting The Hungry Lion throws itself on the Antelope is reproduced in the magazine, L'Illustration.
• Becomes a music and drawing teacher for his neighbours. |
• Laws are passed in France separating the Church from the State
Henri Rousseau The Hungry Lion Throws itself on the Antelope 1905 Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel enlarge |
| 1906 | • Rousseau moves to his final studio in Montparnasse, at 2 bis rue Perrel.
• He is introduced to the poet Guillaume Apollinaire and the painter Robert Delaunay, both of whom will become the artist's faithful friends and supporters. |
• Dreyfus is pardoned and reinstalled in the army.
• The artist Paul Cézanne dies. |
| 1907 | • The Snake Charmer, 1907, a commission from Robert Delaunay's mother, Berthe Comtesse de Delaunay, is exhibited at the Salon d'Automne. Rousseau is persuaded by a musician friend to collaborate in a bank fraud. • The crime is soon discovered and announced in the press; Rousseau writes letters protesting his innocence from prison. • At his trial, the artist's naivety is his major defence and is demonstrated in court using his pictures. |
• Picasso paints Les Desmoiselles d'Avignon.
• Colonial exhibition in the bois de Vincennes. 
Henri Rousseau The Snake Charmer 1907 Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Bequest of Jacques Doucet, 1936 enlarge |
| 1908 | • Picasso and Apollinaire hold a legendary banquet at Picasso's studio in honour of Rousseau, perhaps to celebrate his eventual acquittal of bank fraud charges. | • Pathé's cinema, Le Métropole, opens.
• Charcot Antarctic mission begins (ends 1909). 
Photo of Rousseau in in his studio at rue Perrel, Paris, 1907 by Dornac (fl.1890-1910) Archives Larousse, Paris. Photo: Bridgeman Art Library enlarge |
| 1909 | • Rousseau hosts soirées in his studio during the last few years of his life, entertaining important patrons of the arts, men of letters and avant-garde artists. | • Robert E Peary reaches the North Pole.
• Anarchist rebellion in Barcelona. 
Social gathering in Rousseau's apartment in rue Perrel, Paris, 1909-10.
Rousseau is seated on the left. Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Centre Pompidou, Paris. enlarge |
| 1910 | • The Dream, 1910, is exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants to general acclaim.
• Rousseau sells works to prominent artists and collectors. • He falls in love with a middle-aged shop assistant, Léonie, who rejects him despite his elaborate efforts to impress her. • Suffering from an infected leg wound, he dies heartbroken and impoverished in September. • Only a few close friends attend his funeral. |
• Major flooding of the Seine.
• Death of Edward VII and coronation of George V. • Start of the Five Nations tournament. |
| 1911 | • The Salon des Indépendants pays homage to Rousseau with an exhibition of over forty works. | 
Robert Delaunay Portrait of Douanier Rousseau c.1913-14 L&M services B V. Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou © Photo CNAC/MNAM Dist.RMN / © Droits reserves enlarge |
| 1913 | • Apollinaire's memorial inscription for Rousseau is engraved by the sculptor Constantin Brancusi and Ortiz de Zarate on a headstone purchased by Delaunay and Picasso. | 
Rousseau's grave with poem by Apollinaire Photo: Cliché Musée de Vieux-Château, Laval enlarge |
