The Forest Floor (Dessous de Bois)

A passionate nature lover who believed he, “heard the voices of the trees,” Rousseau was part of the Barbizon school—a group of artists named for a village about 30 miles from Paris where they were based. They often painted in the nearby Forest of Fontainebleau; Rousseau even helped to get the area preserved as a park. The Barbizon artists were part of a larger movement in literature, music and visual arts called the Romantic movement—in which artists painted emotional, expressive views of the world.