Henri Rousseau – Sawmill, Outskirts of Paris

Sawmill, Outskirts of Paris, c. 1893–1895

A canvas almost twice as wide as it is tall

This is the most elongated canvas in our Rousseau series: almost twice as wide as it is
high. Because of that ratio the scene does not read as a view into depth but as a band
running from the left edge to the right. Everything that matters is laid out along that band
– the sawmill at the left, the trees at the centre, the road and the two figures at the right
– and nothing pushes upwards or downwards.

The sawmill

Left of centre stands a low building with a pale pitched roof made of glazed panels
divided by dark bars, and beside it a smaller red-tiled roof. In front of it and around it
lie pale angular masses – stacked sawn timber, painted as a series of flat planes. Those
planes are the brightest part of the canvas and give the scene its centre.

A green line across the middle

Below the mill runs a dark green hedge, straight and level, as though drawn with a ruler.
It separates the grassy plane below from the upper part with its buildings and trees. At the
far left a thin lattice mast rises above the trees. We do not know what it is, and no source
we read says, so we claim nothing about it.

The road and two figures

A pale road curves into the scene from the right. Two small dark figures stand on it: a
woman in a long skirt and a smaller figure beside her. Beside the road is a small red-brick
structure with a dark opening. To the right grows a slender tree carrying small red fruit –
the only living note of colour in the right half of the canvas.

A place not chosen for its beauty

The subject is a working one: a sawmill, stacked timber, a fence, a road. In his views of
the Paris outskirts Rousseau often painted exactly such places rather than the city’s sights.
Comparably chosen subjects on our shelf are Outskirts of Paris and Environs de Paris. An open grassy landscape from the
same series is Meadowland, and a river bank is The Banks of the Bièvre near Bicêtre.

The museum and the record

The original is held by the Art Institute of Chicago under accession number 1950.133, as
the bequest of Kate L. Brewster. The museum records it as oil on canvas measuring
25.5 x 45.5 cm and dates it to about 1893-1895. The record also states that the canvas is
inscribed at the lower left “H. Rousseau”, and that is exactly where the signature can be
seen.

How we make this canvas

We make the picture as a hand-painted oil on canvas reproduction, to order and in the size
you choose. In a format this elongated the ratio of the sides matters more than in other
subjects: make the canvas even slightly taller and the band opens out and the scene loses its
tension. So the sizes offered follow the ratio the museum gives. Because the work is done by
hand, every copy differs a little from the last. The canvas is stretched on a wooden frame
and delivered ready to hang. Other works by this painter are in the Henri Rousseau gallery.