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La encantadora de serpientes

Henri Rousseau, 1907

Henri Rousseau's La encantadora de serpientes, better known in English as The Snake Charmer, is a moonlit jungle scene painted in 1907. It belongs to the Musée d'Orsay, and at 167 by 189 centimetres it is large enough to fill your field of view when you stand before it.

Where to see it

The painting is in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, which is also its listed location. Works in museum collections can be moved, rehung or lent to other institutions, so check the Musée d'Orsay's official website for current display status before you visit. If seeing this particular painting is the main reason for your trip, it is worth confirming shortly before you go.

What to look for in person

The charmer as a silhouette

Start with the central figure. The snake charmer is painted as a dark, almost flat silhouette against the glow of the sky, playing a flute. Very little of her body is modelled; what stands out are her eyes, which catch the light and seem to look straight out at the viewer. Follow the snake draped around her shoulders and notice the other serpents emerging from the foliage, apparently drawn by her music. The stillness of the figure contrasts with the sense that the whole jungle is listening.

Layer upon layer of leaves

Step closer and look at how the vegetation is built. Rousseau painted leaves one by one, in a wide range of greens, stacking them in overlapping bands so the jungle feels dense yet orderly. The plants are not botanically exact; they are invented or combined forms. Rousseau never travelled to the tropics, and his jungles are generally understood as products of imagination, drawing on sources available to him in France. Look at the crisp edges of each leaf and the almost decorative repetition of shapes across the canvas.

Moonlight, water and the bird

Now step back to take in the light. The scene is set at night or dusk, with a pale sky and moonlight reflecting on the water behind the charmer. This light silhouettes the figure and the trees, creating the dreamlike, hushed mood the painting is known for. On the right, find the long-legged pink bird standing among the plants, a spot of warm colour against the cool greens and dark tones. Comparing near and far helps you see how Rousseau stages the picture like a theatre set.

About the painting

Henri Rousseau was a self-taught painter who came to art late and worked outside the academic system of his day. He was sometimes mocked by critics for his flattened figures and unusual perspective, but he was admired by many younger avant-garde artists, and his work is now seen as an important part of the story of modern art. He is often associated with the term 'naive art', although his paintings are carefully composed and painstakingly finished.

La encantadora de serpientes, dated 1907, is one of the best known of his jungle pictures, a group of works he produced mainly in the later part of his career. Like the others, it shows an exotic landscape that Rousseau never saw in person. Instead of recording a real place, he built an imagined world from his own invention and from images and plant forms he could study in France. The result is less a view of nature than a carefully arranged vision.

In front of the painting, the scale matters: at 167 by 189 centimetres, the canvas is roughly the width of a person with arms outstretched, so the foliage surrounds the central figure in a way that small reproductions cannot convey. The balance between the dark figure, the bright sky and the surrounding greens is the key to its quiet, mysterious atmosphere.

The painting is held by the Musée d'Orsay. Give yourself time to view it from a distance first, for the overall composition, and then up close, for the detailed brushwork in the leaves.

Key facts

More by Henri Rousseau

• The Sleeping Gypsy — Museum of Modern Art
• The Repast of the Lion — Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Carnival Evening — Philadelphia Museum of Art
• Boy on the Rocks — National Gallery of Art
• The Dream — Museum of Modern Art
• The Muse Inspiring the Poet
• The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope
• Tiger in a Tropical Storm — National Gallery

Sources

• Wikidata Q3207251
• billetterie.musee-orsay.fr
• www.musee-orsay.fr