Unpleasant Surprise (Mauvaise surprise)  1901

The large-scale jungle scenes of Henri Rousseau are rife with violent struggles between wild animals such as lions, tigers, and horses. Here, a hunter rescues a nude bather from a sharp-clawed bear. The figure stands in a gesture of calm surrender, revealing dirty palms, while the man fires his gun at the beast. Rousseau's painting reads at first like a classic "damsel in ...