Bonus Episode: Take This Job and Fauve It (and Other New Year’s Resolutions)

“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood,” wrote Tom Robbins, the novelist. He could have been referring to Henri Rousseau, the fin de siècle autodidact who begins painting seriously in retirement: storybook-style scenes of exotic animals and jungles that eventually catch the eye of Picasso and Matisse. A story worth remembering as you contemplate a new year, same as the old year—or not. You can see a print of Rousseau’s “War,” a possible inspiration for Picasso’s “Guernica,” in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/7859/la-guerre-henri-rousseau You can see one of Rousseau’s most iconic works, “The Dream,” in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79277 A new season of The Object starts soon. Subscribe now and be among the first to hear it.