{"id":198914,"date":"2026-08-15T16:29:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T14:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svetslik.si\/?post_type=product&p=198914"},"modified":"2026-08-29T11:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T09:42:14","slug":"le-canal","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/svetslik.si\/en\/henri-rousseau\/le-canal\/","title":{"rendered":"Henri Rousseau \u2013 The Canal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n<\/table>\n

The Canal is a work by the painter Henri Rousseau, oil on canvas; the work is not securely dated. The original measures 41.0 cm x 32.7 cm and is in the collection of Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven. The picture shows: a grey canal running straight into the distance between bare rust-coloured trees, evenly spaced saplings on both banks.<\/p>\n

The Canal (Le canal)<\/h2>\n

A canal running straight into the distance<\/h3>\n

The canvas is landscape and is built out of a single move: a canal that runs from the
\nbottom edge straight into the depth and narrows to a pale wedge towards the centre. The
\nwater is a pale grey with brownish passages and carries soft, drawn-out reflections of the
\nbanks. Because it runs exactly down the middle and because the two banks close in evenly,
\nthe whole composition leads the eye to one point on the horizon without offering it any
\nother stop on the way.<\/p>\n

The two banks<\/h3>\n

Pale, pinkish-grey towpaths run beside the water, and behind them a band of green grass.
\nFurther back stand rows of trees \u2013 in this scene almost bare, so that the branches read as a
\ndense rust-brown haze rather than as crowns. This is not a summer scene; the trees are bare
\nand what is left of the leaves gives both sides a rusty colour that is the warmest note on
\nthe canvas.<\/p>\n

Evenly spaced shapes<\/h3>\n

Along both banks small dark spiky shapes are set at regular intervals \u2013 young trees or
\nshrubs, each with a few sticking-out branches. Because they are spaced alike they work as a
\nmeasure: they show how quickly the space recedes. That repeating rhythm is what gives a
\nquiet scene its order, much as the avenue does in Jardin du Luxembourg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What lies in the distance<\/h3>\n

Where the canal narrows, small dark shapes are visible on the water \u2013 too small to be
\nnamed with any confidence. Beyond them a pale flat plane opens, out of which rises a group
\nof slender dark conifers, and low grey ridges lie along the horizon. The sky is an even pale
\ngrey, without cloud, and takes the upper third of the picture.<\/p>\n

Colour that is barely there<\/h3>\n

This is one of Rousseau\u2019s most withheld canvases: grey water, grey sky, rusty trees and a
\nsingle band of green. There is no strong colour anywhere, which is the opposite of his
\ntropical scenes. That is exactly why the difference between the warm brown and the cool grey
\nis what carries the whole picture. A comparably restrained river subject on our shelf is
\nThe Banks of the Bi\u00e8vre near Bic\u00eatre<\/a>, and an open landscape is Meadowland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The museum and the record<\/h3>\n

The original is held by the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven under accession
\nnumber 1980.12.12, in the group its record names the Katharine Ordway Collection. The museum
\ngives the technique as oil on canvas and the measurements as 32.7 x 41 cm, and separately
\ngives the measurements with the frame; the figure quoted here is the painting itself. The
\nmuseum does not date the work to a particular year but places it in the 19th century, so we
\ngive no year either. The record also states that the canvas is signed at the lower left
\n\u201cH. Rousseau\u201d, which is where it can be seen. A suburban subject in our series is Outskirts of Paris<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How we make this canvas<\/h3>\n

We make the picture as a hand-painted oil on canvas reproduction, to order and in the size
\nyou choose. In this subject everything depends on the greys: if the water is a shade too
\nwarm or the sky a shade too dark, the scene loses its cold quiet and becomes an ordinary
\nlandscape. So the colours are mixed in small quantities and compared side by side before
\nthey go on the canvas. Because the work is done by hand, every copy differs a little from
\nthe last. The full range by this painter is in the Henri Rousseau gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nYear of creation:<\/td>\n\n19th century (the museum gives no closer date)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\nOriginal size:<\/td>\n\n41.0 cm x 32.7 cm<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\nPainting style:<\/td>\n\nNaive art (Primitivism), Post-Impressionist period<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\nOriginal technique:<\/td>\n\nOil on canvas<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\nLocated:<\/td>\n\nYale University Art Gallery, New Haven<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n