Henri Rousseau was a Self-taught French painter.  He started painting seriously in his early forties; by age 49, he retired from his job as a toll collector to work on his art full-time.

Because he was a poor man, his access to resources was limited.  He never traveled outside of France to see real jungles.  However, Henri Rousseau frequently visited the circus and local botanical gardens for ideas for his imaginative jungle paintings.

Henri Rousseau used his imagination to make up the plants in the jungle surrounding his tigers.

We will also use our imagination to make up a variety of plants and wildlife to surround our tiger