Explore the Provenance of this artwork.
Rousseau first exhibited the painting at the 13th Salon des Indépendants in 1897, and tried unsuccessfully to sell it to the mayor of his hometown, Laval. Instead, it entered the private collection of a Parisian charcoal merchant where it remained until 1924, when it was discovered and bought by the art critic Louis Vauxcelles.  The Paris-based art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler purchased the painting in 1924, although a controversy arose over whether the painting was a forgery. It was acquired by art historian Alfred H. Barr Jr. for the New York Museum of Modern Art.
It was bought by John Quinn in 1924, and after his death later that year his estate sold at Hôtel Drouot to Henri Bing, who sold to Mme Emma Ruckstuhl of Küssnacht in Switzerland.  She sold to  Mrs. Simon Guggenheim  in December 1939, who donated it to the Museum of Modern Art.The painting also became the subject of a Between the Lions episode, in which the cubs try to tell their own stories based on the painting. In the episode, the mandolin was misreferred to several times as a lute.
Alfred H. Barr Jr. Laval Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler Emma Ruckstuhl John Quinn Simon Guggenheim Louis Vauxcelles Henri Bing lute Küssnacht Hôtel Drouot Between the Lions Museum of Modern Art Salon des Indépendants