by Diane: a visit to Henri Rouseau's fanciful flight from Paris in Paris

My two adult granddaughters were graciously accommodating to an addition not on our list of the things we wished to see during our four days in Paris.  I wanted to see where Rousseau found what he needed to see to paint his jungle inspired painting.  One of my recent paintings is derived from Rousseau's  THE DREAM.
        Le Jardin des Serres d'Auteuils ( The garden of green houses ) is  a distance from the usual tourist attractions.

 On a Saturday the park attracts Parisians. We saw some families picnic on blankets and playing on the lawn, some were sitting on the benches reading. I was not surprised to see a few art students getting a semi-private art lessons.

 The art instructor provided a variety of materials. In the morning they used colored pencil. When we left at about 1:00 PM the instructor was demonstrating colored felt pens. He agreed to me taking a quick look but I didn't feel he was open to conversation as he was intense and highly engaged with his two student.  The instructor also had raw canvas and paints presumably for the afternoon.

 

 

 Inside one of the glass enclosed arboretums I saw two women with their children having a jungle themed lunch imagining that they were in the tropics.

The garden lends itself to surreal day dreaming now as it was for Rousseau who imagined into his painting a nude women on a couch in Paris pretending she is a mermaid in the jungle.

 

photo copied from the NewYork City MOMA web site

Different plants but same dreamy atmosphere was a delightfully relaxing change for all three of us.