Naive art
Description
Naïve art is usually defined as visual art that is created by a person who lacks the formal education and training that a professional artist undergoes (in anatomy, art history, technique, perspective, ways of seeing). When this aesthetic is emulated by a trained artist, the result is sometimes called primitivism, pseudo-naïve art, or faux naïve art. Read more ↗
Key Artists
Henri Rousseau (Le Douanier)
The undisputed pioneer and greatest master of modern Naive art; a self-taught toll collector whose lush, imaginary jungle landscapes and mysterious figure paintings were championed by Picasso and the avant-garde.
Séraphine Louis (Séraphine de Senlis)
French self-taught housekeeper who painted intense, hallucinatory floral arrangements and 'trees of paradise' filled with spiritual fervor using paints made from natural pigments and wax.
Camille Bombois
Former French circus strongman and canal worker turned self-taught painter who created bold, vividly colored depictions of fairgrounds, athletes, and rural landscapes with crisp contours.
Louis Vivin
Self-taught French postal inspector who meticulously painted street scenes and monuments of Paris using exact, brick-by-brick linear patterns and flattened perspective.
André Bauchant
French nurseryman and self-taught painter celebrated for his charmingly direct mythological, historical, and floral compositions who was championed by Le Corbusier and Diaghilev.
Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson Moses)
Beloved American folk and naive artist who began painting in her late seventies, capturing idyllic, nostalgic scenes of rural New England farm life with joyous simplicity.
Horace Pippin
Self-taught American painter and World War I veteran who depicted African American life, historical narratives, and biblical scenes with powerful geometric clarity and emotional directness.
Famous Artworks
Fun Facts
Henri Rousseau never once traveled outside of France or saw a real jungle in his life; he constructed all of his famous tropical landscapes by sketching potted exotic plants inside the glasshouses of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.
↗ Source: moma.org
In 1908, Pablo Picasso discovered a painting by Rousseau selling for five francs in a junk shop and hosted a legendary, raucous banquet in his Montmartre studio at the Bateau-Lavoir to formally celebrate Rousseau as a genius of modern art.
↗ Source: moma.org
