Rousseau became the archetypal naïve artist. His amateurish
technique and unusual compositions provoked the derision of
contemporary critics,while earning the respect and admiration
of modern artists like Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky for
revealing "the new possibilities of simplicity." Rousseau's
best-knownworks are lush jungle scenes,inspired not by any
firsthand experiences of such locales(the artist reportedly
never left France), but by frequent trips
to the Paris gardens and zoo