Liberty Inviting Artists to Take Part in the 22nd Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists 1906

Henri Rousseau, in his own way, and I don’t know when, painted ‘Liberty Inviting Artists to Take Part in the 22nd Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists’ with, from what I can see, oil paint. Look at Liberty herself! She’s up there floating, playing her trumpet, summoning artists to an exhibition. I imagine Rousseau carefully choosing that pink for her dress, deciding how the light should catch her wings, figuring out how much softness to give her face. The scene below Liberty is so structured. Rows of trees, flags from different countries, and a lion lounging as if he owns the place. I can imagine Rousseau putting down each element, one by one, almost like building a stage set. I think that Rousseau, like all artists, was in conversation with other artists and with art history itself. They're all wrestling with similar problems of representation, expression, and the sheer challenge of making something out of nothing. Anyway, it all contributes to the ongoing dialogue that makes art so alive.