Charing Cross Bridge, London

1890

Camille Pissarro

Artist, French, born St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, 1830 - 1903

We look across a river at a long, flat bridge that runs parallel to a hazy, city skyline in the distance in this horizontal painting. The scene is painted with visible dashes and strokes of mostly pastel blue, ivory white, muted mauve purple, and navy blue. The flat bridge spans the width of the composition along the horizon, which comes a third of the way up the canvas. The sky above is filled with clouds painted in muted tones of cream white, pale blue, and a few touches of shell pink, which mirror the water below. Along the horizon, buildings with spires and towers stretch from our right about two-thirds of the way across the canvas. To our left, a cluster of several boats, tiny in scale, gather near the bridge. Closer, and to our right, three larger ferries are crowded with passengers who are represented by minuscule daubs of brightly colored paint, mostly in black, golden yellow, crimson red, sky and cobalt blue, and ivory white. These boats are painted in short, flat brushstrokes in bands of flame red and midnight blue. The artist signed and dated the work at the lower left: "C. Pissarro, 1890."

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 60 x 90 cm (23 5/8 x 35 7/16 in.)
    framed: 71.8 x 104.1 x 4.1 cm (28 1/4 x 41 x 1 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1985.64.32

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Purchased from the artist 18 October 1890 by (Boussod, Valadon et Cie., Paris); sold 23 November 1891 to Elkins, New York;[1] sold by 1892 to (Durand-Ruel, Paris).[2] Paul Harth, Paris, by 1930.[3] (Paul Rosenberg and Co., London, New York and Paris). (Galerie Étienne Bignou, Paris and New York), by 1939.[4] (Alex Reid & Lefèvre, London). William A. Cargill [d. 1962], Carruth, Scotland; (his estate sale, Sotheby's, London, 11 June 1963, no. 34); purchased by (Hector Brame, Paris)[5] for Mr. Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA; gift 1985 to NGA.
[1] For the date of the sale to Elkins, see John Rewald, "Theo van Gogh, Goupil, and the Impressionists, part II," Gazette des Beaux-Arts (February 1973).
[2] The painting was exhibited at Durand-Ruel in 1892.
[3] The painting was lent by Harth to an exhibition at the Musée de l'Orangerie in 1930.
[4] The painting was published as in the Bignou collection by Venturi and Pissarro in 1939.
[5] Provenance according to Paul Mellon records in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1930

  • Centenaire de la naissance de Camille Pissarro, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 1930, no. 78

1940

  • 19th Century French Paintings, Bignou Gallery, New York, 1940, no. 8

1966

  • French Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, no. 32, repro

1973

  • French Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1973-1978, unnumbered checklist

1980

  • Pissarro, Hayward Gallery, London; Grand Palais, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1980-1981, no. 70, repro.

1992

  • From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, National Gallery of Greece, Athens, 1992-1993, no. 54, repro.

1997

  • Pointillismus - Auf den Spuren von Georges Seurat [French title: Pointillisme - Sur les traces de Seurat], Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne; Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne, 1997-1998, no. 108, repro.

1999

  • Camille Pissarro, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1999-2000, no. 60.

2005

  • Monet's London: Artists' Reflections on the Thames, 1859-1914, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida; Brooklyn Museum; The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2005, no. 38, repro.

2008

  • Impressionism and Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy Building, Edinburgh, 2008, unnumbered catalogue, pl. 119.

2012

  • Radiance: the Neo-Impressionists, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2012-2013, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2013

  • Pissarro, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid; Fundación "La Caixa" Barcelona, 2013-2014, no. 61, repro.

2017

  • The EY Exhibition: Impressionists in London: French Artists in Exile, 1870-1904, Tate Britain, London; Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, 2017-2018, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1939

  • Pissarro, Ludovic and Lionello Venturi. Camille Pissarro, son art, son oeuvre. 2 vols. Paris, 1939:1:186, no. 745, as Le Pont de Charing-Cross, Londres; 2:pl. 155.

1973

  • Rewald, John. "Theo van Gogh, Goupil, and the Impressionists (part two)." Gazette des Beaux-Arts LXXXI (February 1973):69, repro.

1993

  • Reid, Martin. Pissarro. London, 1993:114, repro.

2005

  • Pissarro, Joachim and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro: Critical Catalogue of the Paintings, 3 vols., Milan, Paris and New York, 2005: III:no. 884, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: C.Pissarro.1890

Wikidata ID

Q20190110

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