Art Institute of Chicago

The Waterfall

Henri Rousseau · 1910

Provenance

Ownership history

Alphonse Kann (1870–1948), Paris [Vallier 1970]. Sold by George Bernheim, Paris, to Frederick C. Bartlett (1873–1953), Chicago, Mar. 1926 [Brettell 1986]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, Mar. 1926.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

New York, Museum of Modern Art, American Sources of Modern Art, March 10–31, 1933, not in cat.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture Lent from American Collections, June 1–November 1, 1933, p. 52, cat. 369.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1–November 1, 1934, p. 49, cat. 322.
Pittsburgh, Penn., Carnegie Institute, A Survey of French Painting, April 2–May 14, 1936, n. p., cat. 40.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Henri Rousseau, January 22–February 23, 1942, pp. 64–5 and 69 (ill.); traveled to New York, Museum of Modern Art, March 17–May 3, 1942.
Venice, XXV Biennale di Venizia, June–October 1950, p. 235, cat. 20.
London, Tate Modern, Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris, November 3, 2005–February 5, 2006, pp. 37, 41, 42, fig. 32, 45, 111, 116, and 223, cat. 23; traveled to Paris, Grand Palais, March 13–June 19, 2006 and Washington D. C., National Gallery of Art, July 16–October 15, 2006.
Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Le Douanier Rousseau. L'innocence archaique, March 21, 2016–July 17, 2016; traveled to Prague, Narodni Galerie, Sept. 15, 2016–Jan. 15, 2017 (Paris only).
Philadelphia, The Barnes Foundation, Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets, Oct. 19, 2025 – Feb 22, 2026, no cat. no., pl. 55, as The Waterfall (La cascade); Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie, Henri Rousseau, A Painter's Ambition, Mar. 24–July 20, 2026, cat. 76, as La Cascade.

Literature

Published references

Wilhelm Uhde, Henri Rousseau (Dusseldorf, 1914), pl. 42.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Paintings in the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial from the Birch-Bartlett Collection (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1926), 4–5 and 51 (ill.).
R. M. F., “Cézanne, Rousseau, Picasso,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 20:5 (May 1926), 62 and 64 (ill.).
Forbes Watson, “A Note on the Birch-Bartlett Collection,” The Arts 9 (June 1926), 310 and 312 (ill.).
Phipippe Soupault, Henri Rousseau, Le Douanier (Paris: Éditions des Quatre Chemins, 1927), pl. 36, as Paysage, Exotique.
Morton Dauwen Zabel, “An American Gallery of Modern Painting,” Art and Archeology 26:6 (December 1928), 228 (ill.), 233, as Landscape. La Cascade.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Paintings the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial from the Birch-Bartlett Collection (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1929), 10–11 and 57 (ill.).
W. M. M., “A Painting by ‘Papa’ Rousseau,” The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art 17:1 (January 1930), 8.
Walter J. Sherwood, “The Famous Birch Bartlett Collection,” Chicago Visitor (October 1932), 40.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1932), 169.
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture Lent from American Collections, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933), 52, cat. 369.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “The Century of Progress Exhibition of the Fine Arts,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 27:4 (April–May 1933), 70.

Comparables