Description
| Title: | The Canal |
| Other titles: | Le canal (the museum’s title) |
| Painter: | Henri Rousseau |
| Year painted: | 1905 |
| Original size: | 32.7 cm x 41 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | naive art (primitivism) |
| Held at: | Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, USA |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, eight sizes or a size made to order |
The Canal is a painting by Henri Rousseau, oil on canvas, dated 1905 by the Yale University Art Gallery. What you see: a straight canal running into the distance between two rows of bare, rust-brown trees, under a quiet grey sky. We paint it by hand in oils, in eight sizes or to measure, and send you a photograph of the finished painting before dispatch.
The Canal
What is on the canvas?
Down the middle runs a straight canal of calm grey water in which the trees are reflected. On both sides it is lined by green banks with a reddish towpath along the water and a row of small dark posts beside it. Behind them stand tall bare trees with rust-brown branches. At the end of the canal a pale stretch of water opens out, and beyond it rise four slender poplars and a grey hill. Over everything lies an even grey sky. The signature, H. Rousseau, is at the lower left. Another view of the water outside Paris by the same painter is Outskirts of Paris.
What does the painting mean?
The Canal is the simplest composition imaginable: water, two rows of trees and a view in which every line leads to the same point on the horizon. Rousseau builds the scene almost as a mirror image, the same on the left as on the right, and it is this order that gives the painting the stillness of a late autumn or winter day. The small dark posts along the path are the only rhythm in the quiet landscape. The painting is small and intimate, and on a wall it works as a window onto a quiet walk by the water. Another Rousseau landscape outside the city is Environs de Paris.
Which size suits which room?
The original is 32.7 cm high and 41 cm wide, a small painting; 200 x 160 and 160 x 127 cm keep its proportion most exactly, and every size on offer is very close to it. Eight sizes are available: 70 x 55, 85 x 67, 100 x 79, 110 x 87, 120 x 95, 160 x 127, 180 x 142 and 200 x 160 cm. The muted colours suit a bedroom, a study or a hallway, where 70 x 55 or 85 x 67 cm is enough; above a sofa we recommend 110 x 87 cm or larger, so that the view into depth can work. Above a sofa the painting usually takes about two thirds of the width of the furniture; above a bed it should stay narrower than the headboard. Custom sizes are ordered through the made-to-order painting page, where you enter the width and height; we suggest keeping the proportion of the original and changing only the scale. A river on the edge of Paris by the same painter is The Great Laundry Boat at Charenton Bridge.
How is the painting made, and does it come framed?
Your canvas is begun only after you order it, and is painted by hand in oils in our workshop in Slovenia, at the size you choose. The painter lays in the grey sky first, then the hill, the poplars and both rows of trees, then the banks with the towpath and the water with its reflections, and last the posts along the path. We do not print, and no machine application is used, so no two versions are exactly alike. The canvas is stretched on a wooden frame and arrives ready to hang; a picture frame is not included in the price and is chosen separately. Before packing we photograph the finished painting and send you the photograph for approval; only then does it travel. A river bank outside Paris by the same painter is The Banks of the Bièvre near Bicêtre. The whole collection is in the Henri Rousseau gallery.
How is it delivered, and what do we guarantee?
We deliver to Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Germany. Depending on its size, the canvas travels rolled in a rigid tube or stretched on its frame, always in protective wrapping and as a tracked parcel. The making time depends on the size and is confirmed when you order. We guarantee that every painting is painted by hand and that you see a photograph of the finished work before dispatch; if anything in it is not as you wish, we correct it before it leaves the workshop.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original kept?
At the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, USA.
When was it painted?
In 1905, the dating the museum gives.
Is a frame included?
No. The canvas is stretched on a wooden frame and ready to hang without a picture frame; a frame can be chosen separately.
Is this a print?
No. It is painted by hand in oils, and the layers of paint can be seen and felt.
Is the painting suitable as a gift?
Yes, especially for someone who loves quiet landscapes, walks by the water and muted colours. If you would rather the recipient chose, there is a gift voucher.
- Subject: a straight canal between two rows of bare, rust-brown trees; poplars and a grey hill at the end.
- Original: oil on canvas, 32.7 x 41 cm, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; 1905.
- Our version: hand-painted oil, eight sizes from 70 x 55 to 200 x 160 cm or to measure, unframed, photograph before dispatch.
- Of note: the composition is almost a mirror image: every line leads to the same point on the horizon.
