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The Wedding

Rousseau Musée de l'Orangerie Lower level, Room 15

The Wedding — Rousseau
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Transcript

Here's what your guide tells you about this work in the MuseCat app.

The painting you're looking at is Henri Rousseau's The Wedding. It's believed that Rousseau painted this work from a wedding photograph rather than from a wedding he attended in person. The mustached man standing behind and to the right of the bride is Rousseau himself. Some believe that the painting was based on a photograph of Rousseau's own wedding, but the exact story is still unknown.

Now, let's take a closer look at the painting. If you look at the background, you'll see a variety of trees. You can see how carefully Rousseau observed nature.

And if you look at the people, their sizes and positions may seem a little awkward. That's part of Rousseau's distinctive style. For example, the bride's feet seem to be floating above the ground instead of touching it. Rousseau deliberately painted her this way to blur the boundary between reality and dreams. The Musée de l'Orangerie has nine works by Rousseau in its collection.

Now, take your time and enjoy the painting.

End of narration

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons, by xiquinhosilva (CC BY 2.0 / Public domain).