
Public data from the Art Institute of Chicago. Learn more
Sawmill, Outskirts of Paris
Inscriptions
Inscribed lower left: H. Rousseau
Provenance
Paul Guillaume (1891–1934), Paris, by 1927 [Zervos 1927]. Valentine Dudensing, New York, 1929 [Chicago 1933]. Walter S. Brewster (1872–1954) and Kate Brewster (née Lancaster; c. 1879–1947), by 1933 [Chicago 1933]; bequeathed by Kate Brewster to the Art Institute, 1950.
Exhibition history
Chicago, Home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Brewster, Special View for the benefit of Chicago Public School Art Society of the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter S. Brewster, Jan. 20–22, 1933, cat. 27. The Art Institute of Chicago, Henri Rousseau, January 22–February 23, 1942, pp. 20–21 (ill.); traveled to New York, Museum of Modern Art, Mar. 17–May 3, 1942. Pittsburgh, Penn., Carnegie Institute, Exhibition of Paintings by Henri Rousseau, Dec. 4–27, 1942, cat. 16. The Art Institute of Chicago, Kate L. Brewster Bequest, September 1950, no cat. Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Henri Rousseau di “Le Douanier,” Feb.–Mar. 1961, cat. 6 (ill.). New York, Wildenstein and Company, Henri Rousseau, Apr. 17–May 25, 1963, cat. 8 (ill.). London, Tate Modern, Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris, November 3, 2005–February 5, 2006, pp. 126, fig. 88, 129, 130, and 222, cat. 31; traveled to Paris, Grand Palais, March 13–June 19, 2006 and Washington D. C., National Gallery of Art, July 16–Oct. 15, 2006. Philadelphia, The Barnes Foundation, Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets, Oct. 19, 2025 – Feb 22, 2026, no cat. no., pl. 44, as Sawmill, Outskirts of Paris (Scierie aux environs de Paris); Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie, Mar. 24–July 20, 2026, cat. 52, as Scierie, environs de Paris.
Publications
Adolphe Basler, “L’Douanier’ Henri Rousseau,” L’Art Vivant (October 15, 1926), p. 782, as Paysage des environs de Paris (ill.). Christian Zervos, “Henri Rousseau et le sentiment poétique,” Cahiers d’art 9 (1926), p. 227 (ill.). Adolphe Basler, Henri Rousseau: Sa vie, son oeuvre (New York: Weyhe, 1927), p. 30, as Scierie de Clamart. Christian Zervos, Rousseau (Paris: Cahiers d’Art, 1927), pl. 16, as Environs de Paris. André Salmon, Henri Rousseau dit le Douanier (Paris: Les Éditions G. Crès, 1927), no. 30, as Paysage (ill.). James-Johnson Sweeny, “Exposition d’rt Français, Academie Royale des Arts, Burlington House, Londres,” Cahiers d’art 7:1–2 (1932), pp. 38, 39 (ill.). Wilhelm Uhde, “Henri Rousseau et les Primitifs Modernes,” L’Amour de l’art 14:8 (October 1933), p. 192, fig. 240, as Paysage. Christian Zervos, Histoire de l’art contemporain (Paris: Editions Cahiers d’art, 1938), p. 106 (ill.). Daniel Catton Rich, Henri Rousseau, exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1942), pp. 20–21 (ill.). “The Henri Rousseau Exhibition,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago XXXVI:2 (February 1942), p. 19. Carnegie Institute, Exhibition of Paintings by Henri Rousseau, exh. cat. (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1942), cat. 16. J. O’C., Jr., “Henri Rousseau: Exhibition of Paintings at the Carnegie Institute from December 4 to December 27,” Carnegie Magazine 16:7 (December 1942), pp. 209 and 212. Roch Grey, Henri Rousseau (Paris: Galerie René Drouin, 1943), no. 85 (ill.), as La Scierie. Julio E. Payró, El Aduanero Rousseau (Buenos Aires, Argentina: Editorial Poseidon, 1944), pl. 41. Daniel Catton Rich, Henri Rousseau, second edition (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1946), p. 21 (ill.). Francis Jourdain, “A Propos de Quelques Peintres Autodidactes,” Arts de France 2 (January 1946), p. 13, as L’usine des environs de Paris (ill.). Daniel Catton Rich, “The Kate L. Brewster Bequest,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 44:3 (September 15, 1950), pp. 51, 54 (ill.). Lo Duca, Henri Rousseau dit le Douanier (Paris: Les Éditions du Chêne, 1951), p. 5 (ill.), as Environs de Paris. A Brief Guide to the Collections (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1956), p. 36. The Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1961), p. 406. Dora Vallier, Henri Rousseau (Cologne: M. DuMont Schauberg, 1961), pp. 49 and 305 (ill.), as Sägewerk bei Paris. Jean Bouret, Henri Rousseau, trans. by Martin Leake (Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1961), pp. 69 and 249, pl. 5. Galerie Charpentier, Henri Rousseau di “Le Douanier,” exh. cat. (Paris: Galerie Charpentier, 1961), cat. 6 (ill.). Jerome Mellquist, “Paris Considers Sources,” Apollo LXXIV:434 (April 1961), p. 123. Wildenstein and Company, Henri Rousseau, exh. cat. (New York: Wildenstein and Company, 1963), cat. 8 (ill.). Vratislav Effenberger, Henri Rousseau (Praque: Státní nakladatelství krásné literatury aumení, 1963), p. 66, pl. 13. Giovanni Artieri and Dora Vallier, L’opera completa di Rousseau il Doganiere (Milan: Rizzoli, 1969), pl. IX, pp. 94 and 95, fig. 56. Dora Vallier, Tout l’oeuvre peint de Henri Rousseau (Paris: Flammarion, 1970), pl. IX, p. 95 (fig. 56). Alfred Werner, Rousseau/Dufy (New York: Tudor, 1970), pp. 24–25, pl. 7. Lise and Oto Bihalji-Merin, Leben und Werk des Malers Henri Rousseau (Dresden: Veb Verlag der Kunst, 1971), pl. 4. Atsushi Miyagawa, Redon/Rousseau (Tokyo: Shueisha, 1971), p. 129, pl. 37. Carolyn Keay, Henri Rousseau: Le Douanier (New York: Rizzoli, 1976), pl. VI, p. 175. Dora Vallier, Henri Rousseau (New York: Crown Publishers, 1979), pp. 20–21 (ill.). Henry Certigny, Le Douanier Rousseau en Son Temps, vol. I (Tokyo: Bunkazai Kenkyujyo, 1984), pp. 94–95, no. 51 (ill.). M. C. Hugonot, Henri Rousseau (Paris: Henri Scrépel, 1984), pp. 37 and 38–39 (ill.). Christopher Green and Frances Morris (eds.), Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris, exh. cat. (London: Tate Modern, 2005), pp.126, fig. 88, 129, 130, and 222, cat. 31. Nancy Ireson, Interpreting Henri Rousseau (London: Tate Publishing, 2005), 34, 35, fig. 20 (color ill.), 55, as Saw Mill, Outskirts of Paris. Nancy Ireson and Christopher Green, eds., Barbara Buckley, Juliette Degennes, Martha Lucy, Mina Porell, and Anya Shutova, Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: The Barnes Foundation, 2025), 124 (color ill., detail), 126-127, 142, 143, pl. 44 (color ill.), 312, as Sawmill, Outskirts of Paris (Scierie aux environs de Paris). Nancy Ireson, Laurence Campa, Juliette Degennes, Christopher Green, and Johanna Salvant, Henri Rousseau, A Painter's Ambition/Henri Rousseau, l’ambition de la peinture, exh. cat. (Paris: Musée de l’Orangerie, 2026), 132-133, cat. 52 (color ill.), 212, as Scierie, environs de Paris vers.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Henri Rousseau / French, 1844-1910
- Date
- c. 1893/95
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 25.5 × 45.5 cm (10 × 17 7/8 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- oil on canvas
- Place
- France
- Department
- Modern Art
- Credit line
- Bequest of Kate L. Brewster
- Accession no.
- 1950.133
More by Henri Rousseau in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00001183
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