Rousseau is now best known
for his jungle scenes, the first of which is Surprise! (Tropical Storm with
a Tiger) (1891) and the last Le Rêve
(1910). These two paintings are works of great imaginative power, in which he
showed his extraordinary ability to retain the utter freshness of his vision even
when working on a large scale and with loving attention to detail. He claimed
such scenes were inspired by his experiences in Mexico, but in fact his sources
were illustrated books and visits to the zoo and botanical gardens in Paris.
