The Dream (1910) by Henri RousseauMoMA The Museum of Modern Art
Henri Rousseau was a self-taught painter working in Paris at the end of the 19th Century. Rousseau began to paint in his early 40s, and worked day to day as a tax collector, which earned him his nickname, Le Douanier. By 49, he had quit his job to focus on art.
Rousseau's naive, unacademic style, and the fact he painted part-time made him something of a joke to many contemporaries. However, a number of artists recognised his ability and admired his idiosyncratic style.
The Dream, 1910
This painting is typical of Rousseau's jungle works. Oversized plants enclose a primeval scene of human and animal in harmony. The incongruous placement of a chaise long amongst the jungle highlights the fact that this scene derives from, or perhaps depicts, a dream.
Rousseau's focus on each individual element of the painting - each flower, each leaf - lends it an illustrative style. In fact, Rousseau had never seen a jungle, instead he drew his inspiration from days at the zoo and children's picture books.
Doubt-Forest 1 (2009/2009) by Yang, Dae-Won and 양대원Korean Art Museum Association
In 1966, Over fifty years after Rousseau's death, South Korean artist Dae Won Yang was born in Yangpyeong. Unlike Rousseau, Yang studied art at Sejong University in Seoul. He held his first solo exhibition in 1995.
These two artists share more in common than you may think. Yang's work involves bold colors, simple flat surfaces, and highly stylised forms. In fact, Yang's work appears to be closer to graphic design than painting.
Key to Yang's practice is the figure he calls Donggeulin (Round Man), an avatar of that appears in almost all his paintings. Often masked, holding objects, clothed in unusual patterns, and sometimes weeping.
Yang uses Donggeulin as an avatar, exploring themes of love and loss, fear and violence in dream-like imagery. Donggeulin wrestles, hides, and drowns in pools of deep blue water.
In this work, Donggeulin seems to be gripping a dagger, just about to plunge it into his body. Are the green lines that lick around his body forest leaves or flames?
Like Rousseau's Dream, the unusual elements of this simple image suggest a deeper, symbolic meaning, waiting to be uncovered.
Stranger (2010/2010) by Yang, Dae-Won and 양대원Korean Art Museum Association
If you enjoyed discovering Dae Won Yang, then why not take a look at more of his work, such as Doubt-Tears 2 and Doubt-Tears 8.
