The Toll Gate

Copyright

Work in the public domain
Image: Courtauld
by-nc

Maker

Henri (le Douanier) Rousseau
1844-1910

Title

The Toll Gate

Date of Production

c. 1890

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

Height: 40.6 cm (canvas)
Width: 32.75 cm (canvas)

Object Number

P.1948.SC.349

Mode of Acquisition

Samuel Courtauld, bequest, 1948

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Location

Not currently on display
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Keywords

  • tollgates

Label Text

This is the only known painting in which the amateur artist Henri Rousseau referenced his
employment as a tax collector – a job that earnt him the playful nickname of ‘Le Douanier’, or
customs agent. Paris was surrounded by toll gates such as this one, where all goods entering
the city were taxed. But Rousseau liked to paint invented landscapes, and this particular scene appears dreamlike and imagined. Though mocked by some, his personal, untaught style was acclaimed by Pablo Picasso and other members of the avant-garde.

Inscriptions

Inscription: inscription : signed : bottom right & recto : : H. Rousseau

Provenance

Wilhelm Uhde, Paris; Dr Hartwich, Berlin; Alfred Flechtheim, Berlin; purchased by Samuel Courtauld 1926; Courtauld Bequest 1948

Exhibition History

Henri Rousseau: A Painter's Secrets, The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, 19/10/2025-22/02/2026; Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 25/03/2026-20/07/2026
Masterpieces of Impressionism from The Courtauld Gallery, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, 10/09/2019-15/12/2019; Aichi Prefectural Museum, Nagoya, Japan, 03/01/2020-15/03/2020; Kobe City Museum, Kobe, Japan, 28/03/2020-21/06/2020
The Courtauld Collection. A Vision for Impressionism, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, 20/02/2019-17/06/2019
...More
Henri Rousseau, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, 07/02/2010-18/04/2010
Jungles in Paris - The Paintings of Henri Rousseau, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 10/07/2006-08/10/2006
Jungles in Paris - The Paintings of Henri Rousseau, Grand Palais & Paris & France, 13/03/2006-19/06/2006
Jungles in Paris - The Paintings of Henri Rousseau, Tate Modern & London & England, 03/11/2005-05/02/2006
Into the 20th century - New Displays at the Courtauld, Courtauld Gallery, London, 10/10/2002
Rousseau, Tubingen & Germany, 03/02/2001-17/06/2001
The Courtauld Collection: Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 14/06/1998-21/09/1998
The Courtauld Collection, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, 26/12/1997-12/05/1998
Venice Biennale 1950, Biennale & Venice & Italy, 03/06/1950-15/10/1950
...Less

Literature

The Courtauld Collection: Masterpieces of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1998

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