Fight Between a Tiger and a Buffalo1908 · Study 1949.186

Context from the museum

Having never ventured outside France, Henri Rousseau derived his jungle scenes from reading travel books and visiting the Paris botanical garden. He placed this imaginary scene of a tiger attacking a buffalo within a fantastic jungle environment in which botanical accuracy was of little importance (note the bananas growing upside down). Here, sharply outlined hothouse plants are enlarged to fearsome proportions. Rousseau was working on this painting while imprisoned for fraud in December 1907. Officials granted him an early release to finish it for exhibition at the Salon des Indépendants, where this major composition, one of the artist's largest and most important, appeared in March 1908. A self-taught artist and retired customs inspector, Rousseau was admired by Pablo Picasso and other avant-garde artists for his originality and the naïve purity of his vision.

Museum description reproduced from its CC0 open-access record. Read the original catalog entry.

A detail to notice

Many of Henri Rousseau's paintings depict wild animals and tropical jungles that might lead one to believe he traveled widely. However, Rousseau never left France, but drew inspiration from visiting botanical gardens and reading travel books.

Observation supplied by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Read the dimensions before the image

The selected unframed measurement for Fight Between a Tiger and a Buffalo is 189.5 cm wide and 170 cm high, equivalent to approximately 74.6 × 66.9 inches. Dividing width by height gives a format ratio of 1.11:1. The rectangular bounding area is 3.22 square meters; it describes the measured footprint, not the amount of paint or the monetary value.

On an illustrative 300 cm wall, the recorded width occupies 63.2% of the span before adding a frame. A centered placement leaves approximately 55.3 cm on each side before adding a frame. These are calculations by Physical Art For Crypto using museum measurements. They are not the museum’s display recommendations.

Questions to bring to your own collection

With Fight Between a Tiger and a Buffalo in view, identify one feature you can point to, then distinguish what the museum records from your personal response. Keep its medium, oil on fabric, in your notes when comparing contemporary works.

• Which part of this horizontal composition catches your eye first?
• Would a 189.5 cm width still suit the space after allowing for furniture and a frame?
• What surface detail would you need to see in person or in a close photograph?