Take One Picture: children inspired by Henri Rousseau’s Surprised!

This summer, the National Gallery will showcase children’s artworks in the annual Take One Picture exhibition, with pupils across the country having taken inspiration from Rousseau’s Surprised! For nearly thirty years, the Gallery has been inviting primary school children nationwide to focus on one painting from the collection and respond creatively, following their own questions and ideas, and this year’s program has been the biggest yet: 300 schools took part – more than a 60% increase from last year. The program aims to put art at the center of children’s learning across the curriculum, inspiring creativity, curiosity, and a lifelong connection with artists’ work. By exhibiting a selection of the projects produced, the program also provides a platform for celebrating children’s work, building pride and confidence in their achievements, and fostering a sense of ownership and belonging in the Gallery. This year’s painting, Rousseau’s Surprised!, is perennially one of the Gallery’s top 20 most popular and visited paintings. Rousseau produced the work without ever leaving his native France; the foliage is a mix of domestic house plants and tropical varieties, which he had seen at the Botanical Gardens in Paris. An amateur artist who painted as a hobby and failed to get serious recognition from his contemporaries, Rousseau is now seen as a pioneer of the “naïve art” movement. Year 4 at Langland Community School, Milton Keynes, were drawn to the tiger’s worried expression and wondered if he was in danger from poachers. The children researched the endangerment of tigers and their habitat through deforestation… Read More