Henri Rousseau is considered the archetype of the modern naive artist. He is known for his richly coloured and meticulously detailed pictures of lush jungles, wild beasts, and exotic figures. After exhibiting with the Fauves in 1905, he gained the admiration of avant-garde artists. Rousseau was honoured with a retrospective exhibition at the Salon des Indépendants in 1911.

In 1912 the painter Wassily Kandinsky wrote admiringly about Rousseau in his Expressionist review Der Blue Reiter. In addition to inspiring an interest in naive art in the 20th century, he is also thought to have influenced the dreamscapes of Surrealist artists such as Paul Delvaux and Max Ernst.