PARIS — Henri Rousseau is art history’s best-known naïf painter. The Cubists, Dadaists, and Surrealists were among the first to appreciate his zoomed-in, hyperreal aesthetic strengths.

Art World Eureka: How Henri Rousseau Painted Luscious Jungles—Without Once Leaving France The artist made a name for himself with “exotic” visions entirely of his own making.

Eerdmans, $17 (34p) ISBN 978-0-8028-5364-6 “Henri Rousseau wants to be an artist. Not a single person has ever told him he is talented. He’s a toll collector. He’s forty years old.