Henri Rousseau has been the subject of multiple interpretations: grandfather of Surrealism, precursor of Cubism, leader of a school of "modern primitives." Fittingly, in the centennial year of the artist's death, the symposium Henri Rousseau: Paint + Process probes Rousseau's pictures to challenge decades of received wisdom about the artist and begin to understand how he created his captivating body of work.

Leading the symposium will be Katrina Bartlett, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Paintings Conservation, and Caitlin Haskell, Vivian L. Smith Foundation Fellow. Availing themselves of the museum's extensive research resources and state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, Bartlett and Haskell have delved below the surface of Rousseau's paintings. The symposium will bring conservators, curators and historians from the Art Institute of Chicago, the Barnes Foundation, Courtauld Institute, Fondation Beyeler, J. Paul Getty Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, National Gallery of Art, the Phillips Collection, Rice University and the University of Texas at Austin.

Admission to the symposium is free. Jones Auditorium (Yoakum Blvd. at Sul Ross St.) is located on the main campus of University of St. Thomas, between the Menil and Montrose Blvd. Free parking is available on the streets around the Menil and the University of St. Thomas, in the Menil's main parking lot (W. Alabama and Mulberry), and in the lot west of the Link-Lee Mansion (W. Alabama at Yoakum). Paid parking ($2) is available in the Moran Center Parking Garage (W. Alabama at Graustark).