Naive Art, style of art, predominantly painting, that is produced by non-professional artists who are generally self-taught and who paint in a direct, somewhat simplified style, usually using bright colours. Because naive painters lack formal training, certain representational skills are absent from their work. For example, perspective, where it is employed, is non-scientific and often inconsistent; the principles of anatomy are absent from depictions of humans and animals; such features as figures, trees, and buildings, rather than being modelled in depth, generally appear flattened and two-dimensional; and colours are often bright and non-naturalistic.

Naive art often has a dreamlike charm and luminosity. The vision of the naive artist is typically spontaneous and genuine, with a marked directness of expression. The themes of naive art are characteristically those of daily life, in towns or in the countryside; they may depict everyday activities, local celebrations and festivals, work in the country, or townscapes. Naive art is often, but by no means always, unsigned and this reflects the self-image of the naive painter as a craftsman rather than as an artist. Naive art shares much in common with folk art, and the distinction between them is often difficult to draw. Indeed, the origins of naive art lie in the traditions of folk art and the existence of such vernacular traditions as quilt-making, signwriting, and toymaking, and the itinerant portrait painter. It was in the 19th century, when the role of the folk artist was gradually obliterated by the increasing availability of industrially made products, that naive art emerged as a separate art form, most notably in Europe and in North America, although traditions of naive art exist all over the world.

The best-known European naive artist is the French painter Henri Julien Félix Rousseau, known as Le Douanier Rousseau. His work bears all the characteristics of the untrained, naive artists in its inconsistent treatment of pictorial space, absence of illusionistic lighting, and adoption of strong colour. His subjects include portraits and, more famously, tropical scenes peopled with animals and human figures; lush colours imbue his painting with mystery and fantasy. Rousseau painted in his free time for almost a decade before exhibiting for the first time at the Société des Artistes Indépendants in 1886. Throughout his career, Rousseau sought recognition by the official art world but continually suffered rejection by the selecting jury of its annual exhibiting forum, the Salon. During the 1890s, criticism of Rousseau’s exhibited work grew. One critic commented that “the public doubled up with laughter” when they saw his Tiger in a Tropical Storm (1891, National Gallery, London).

It was largely due to Wilhelm Uhde, the Parisian critic and collector, that Rousseau’s work, and later naive painting itself, was recognized as a style in its own right. Uhde also supported the work of four other French naive painters: Louis Vivin, André Bauchant, Camille Bombois, and Séraphine Louis. All began to paint relatively late in their lives: Vivin, for example, had been a post-office worker and did not begin to paint regularly until after he retired; Bombois was a porter, navvy, and docker until, in his late 40s, his success allowed him to devote all his time to painting. Séraphine Louis worked as a domestic servant, in her spare time painting plants and flowers in rich, non-naturalistic colours.

Another well-known school of peasant naive painting is that centring around Hlebine, in Croatia. It was discovered and promoted by Krsto Hegedusic, who organized exhibitions of the group’s work. The best known of the Hlebine naive artists is Ivan Generalić, whose subject matter is the countryside in which he lived. Another noteworthy Croatian naive painter is Emerik Fejeś, who painted a series of views that he copied from postcards, transforming the photographic image into a brightly coloured and meticulously constructed representation.

The most celebrated naive painter in the United States was Grandma Moses (whose real name was Anna Maria Robertson). She received no school education and began working as a farmhand at the age of 12. Painting was a hobby to which she turned intermittently, primarily as a means to decorate her home, but after the death of her husband in 1926 she took it up more seriously in order to keep herself busy. Her work is characterized by harmonious compositions depicting in a romantic light the scenes and activities that filled her childhood in rural America; among them are Harvest Time (1945), Mount Nebo in Winter (1943), and Taking in the Laundry (1951).

In Britain the most important naive artist of the 20th century was Alfred Wallis, a Cornish seaman native to St Ives, who turned to painting only in his 70s. He painted with boatman’s paint directly on to old, irregularly shaped pieces of card or board, and sometimes on to the backs of old envelopes. He would usually take the shape of the card into account and adjust his composition accordingly. Like other naive painters, Wallis painted his own world—St Ives, boats, and the sea—but he also used his imagination without restraint. His paintings have a childlike quality because they incorporate not only what he saw but also what he knew; distances between buildings and places and altered, multiple viewpoints are adopted, and the sea is frequently included even where it could not be seen because it was nearby; its roar can be heard as a constant reminder of its presence and because it was so central to the artist’s life.

Just as, in France, the work of naive artists was admired by artists of the avant-garde, so, in Britain, the work of Alfred Wallis played a central role in the emergence of Modernism in British painting. He was discovered accidentally by the artists Ben Nicholson and Christopher Wood during a day trip to St Ives in August 1928. The naivety of Wallis’s style and his whole approach to his art were exactly the qualities they were seeking in their own work. Certain elements of naive painting also appealed to Modernist artists working in the early decades of the 20th century; traces of the style can be seen in the work of Kandinsky, Malevich, Klee, and Léger.