Surprised! 1891

By Henri Rousseau (1844 – 1910)

Here we can see a tiger creeping through the jungle as a ferocious storm rages. Can you see the flash of lightning in the sky and the rain pouring down?

You can find lots of patterns and echoes in this painting. The swaying grasses match the tiger’s stripes, the shape of the bending trees is the same as the arch of the tiger’s back and even the lightning looks a bit like the tiger’s stringy whiskers!

Do you think this is a realistic picture of a tiger? Some people say that it looks more like a soft toy! The artist never actually saw a real tiger and so this is probably based on his imagination and copies he made from other pictures of tigers.

The painter who made this picture said that it was about the surprise that explorers felt when they saw a tiger ready to pounce on them! But we can’t see any explorers in this picture and it could mean something else. Perhaps there are explorers just ahead who have surprised the tiger instead! Or perhaps there are hunters creeping up behind him. What do you think might happen next?

Imagine what it would be like to be caught in a tropical storm. How would you feel if you were the tiger? How would you feel if you were an explorer or hunter? 

_{Oil on canvas
The National Gallery, London}

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