Camille Pissarro

Pissarro, Camille Jacob

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

Camille Pissarro was a Danish-French painter known as the “father of impressionism.” He is perhaps most famous for his light, elegant paintings of the French countryside and his Parisian cityscapes. Born on the island of Saint Thomas, then part of the Danish West Indies, he lived much of his life in Paris.

Initially, Pissarro struggled to find success as an artist. He eventually joined the impressionists, though he was slightly older than many members of the group. Due to his age and good-natured temperament, he became a mentor to artists such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas.

Pissarro’s style showed a clear pointillist influence: he used thousands of tiny dots of paint to create shimmering scenes of Paris. Pissarro died in 1903. He is known today as one of the foremost French painters of his day.

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From high up, we look down and out at a river with seven ferries and barges, the waterway lined with buildings on the bank to our right, in this loosely painted, horizontal landscape. Dashes of muted blue, fern green, and tan create the rippling surface of the river, which fills most of the bottom half of the painting. A dark tugboat chugs out of the scene near the bottom center of the composition, and the other vessels create diagonals along the river, angled down toward the bottom right corner. Closer to us in the lower left corner of the painting, a platform edge with a railing juts out to or over the water. At least six people stand on the platform alone or in pairs. They are loosely painted with touches of black, gray, yellow, plum purple, and peach. The platform itself is painted with swipes of sky blue, oatmeal brown, butter yellow, and rose pink. Each person creates a reflection in the surface of the platform, suggesting it is wet, perhaps with rain. The spiky branches of a row of trees along the far side of the platform are sharp against the landscape beyond. The buildings on the far bank are several stories high and lined with windows. Buildings farther in the distance have triangular rooflines or domes, which become slate blue along the hazy horizon. An arched bridge with a flat deck spans the river about halfway back along the river as we see it. In the top half of the picture, fog-gray and cream-white clouds fill the sky with patches of hazy powder blue showing through. The artist signed and dated the painting in sable brown in the lower left corner, “C. Pissarro. 1900.”
Camille Pissarro, The Louvre, Afternoon, Rainy Weather, 1900, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Edward C. and Mary Walker Collection), 2014.136.59

The Louvre, Afternoon, Rainy Weather

Camille Pissarro · 1900 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.59

We look down onto a plaza with a sliver of a tall building rising along the left edge of the painting, a row of verdant, green trees to our right, and a row of buildings enclosing the space in the distance in this nearly square landscape painting. The peanut-brown building to our left nearly reaches the top edge of the canvas. It has three oversized, tall stories under a high, sloping roof with a slender chimney. A promenade with carriages runs in front of the tall building. In the plaza closer to us but tiny in scale, people gather in small and large groups, along the bottom edge of the composition. They are painted with dabs and short strokes of cobalt blue, butter and golden yellow, brick red, black, and white. The trees create a diagonal line running from the lower right corner into the scene, along the edge of the plaza to our right. Beyond the plaza and trees, the corners of a formal garden with sand-white walking paths stretch back to the row of buildings in the distance, which come halfway up the painting. That long line of buildings is painted with tones of light brown with rows of tall, narrow windows. The roofs are slate gray, and several cupolas and towers are spaced along its length. The buildings span the width of the painting and disappear behind the tall building to our left. Loosely painted, white, puffy clouds float across the ice-blue sky above. The artist signed and dated the work with brown paint in the lower left corner: “C. Pissarro. 1900.”
Camille Pissarro, Place du Carrousel, Paris, 1900, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.55

Place du Carrousel, Paris

Camille Pissarro · 1900 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.55

A woman bends double to tend a garden that stretches before us in front of two houses in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is painted with short, visible brushstrokes with a palette dominated by spring, pine, and celery green and earthy tan, peanut, and chestnut brown. Touches of canary yellow, pale pink, coral, and ruby red suggest sunflowers, roses, and other flowers. The woman wears a long, steel-gray skirt and a long-sleeved olive-green shirt. Her brown hair is bound up, and her face and hands, indicated with only a few short swipes of paint, are pale peach. She stoops over a light green patch to our right of center near a bundle of sticks or a group of tall dried stems, to our right. Leafy greens have been planted in rows to our left. Across from us, beyond the cultivated rows, masses of flowers grow in a band that nearly spans the width of the composition. Beyond, a gray stone house with a dark gray roof and a second brick red roof rise above the plants and trees. The pale blue sky above is dotted with cotton-white clouds. The artist signed and dated the work with dark paint in the lower left corner: “C. Pissarro 1898.”
Camille Pissarro, The Artist's Garden at Eragny, 1898, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.54

The Artist's Garden at Eragny

Camille Pissarro · 1898 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.54

We look down onto a wide, bustling, tree-lined avenue filled with buildings, people, and horse-drawn carriages in this horizontal painting. Muted, warm browns, sage green, slate blue, and brick red dominate the urban scene, which is loosely painted with short and long dotted brushstrokes so some details are difficult to make out. The street extends diagonally up from our lower left with wide gray sidewalks on either side, which are lined by slender trees sparsely dotted with brown leaves. Dozens of pedestrians meander individually, in pairs, and in small groups on the sidewalks in coats and hats. Across from us, multi-storied buildings with store fronts at street level stretch across the width of the canvas. Rows of windows line the facades. Horse-drawn carriages move in both directions on the street and two omnibuses have pulled to the curb closest to us, where passengers have lined up. Two brick-red, hexagonally shaped kiosks stand opposite each other on either side of the street about halfway along the boulevard. Sunlight filters onto the scene, creating a dappled effect in some areas, especially over to our right. The artist signed and dated the painting in dark green in the lower right corner: “C.Pissarro.97.”
Camille Pissarro, Boulevard des Italiens, Morning, Sunlight, 1897, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.198

Boulevard des Italiens, Morning, Sunlight

Camille Pissarro · 1897 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.198

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."
Camille Pissarro, Charing Cross Bridge, London, 1890, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.32

Charing Cross Bridge, London

Camille Pissarro · 1890 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.32

We look slightly down onto two girls or young women with light skin sitting close to us in a green, grassy field in this square landscape painting. At the bottom center of the composition, the closest girl has her back to us and wears a blue and white striped shirt over a long skirt painted with a blend of muted red and yellow strokes. A blue apron covers most of the front of her legs, and at least one black shoe emerges from the bottom hem, resting in the grass. Her brown hair is pulled up and covered by a red and white-checked cap. She looks toward her companion to our right, who turns her head over her left shoulder, her body facing our left in profile. The second girl has dark blond hair covered with a yellow kerchief speckled with daubs of dark red. She wears a peanut-brown shirt and skirt, and her legs are also mostly covered in a blue apron. The field is bordered by a line of slender tree trunks on the left and tall, dense hedges on the right. A light brown cow and a white cow stand in the field a short distance away. The grass is painted with tightly packed strokes of celery, pine, and kelly green with flecks of goldenrod yellow. Farther in the distance, a narrow band of silvery water enters from the left and runs across the canvas. Another field lies beyond it with a cluster of low buildings in the far distance on the right side. The artist signed and dated the lower right corner, “C. Pissarro 1882.”
Camille Pissarro, Young Peasant Girls Resting in the Fields near Pontoise, 1882, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.18.42

Young Peasant Girls Resting in the Fields near Pontoise

Camille Pissarro · 1882 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.18.42

A man and woman stand in a sunny field near a line of cone-shaped haystacks under a massive blue sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes throughout. A muted blue shadow cuts across the flax-yellow ground close to us from our left. About a dozen golden-brown haystacks extend from the center of the composition off into the distance to our right. The people stand in the harvested field to our left. Tiny in scale, the woman wears a rose-pink dress and white apron and cap. She bends over as the man stands nearby, resting a scythe against one shoulder. He wears a white shirt, a dark vest and cap, and blue pants. The field beyond is verdant green, with more haystacks in the distance. Dark green trees line the horizon, which comes about a third of the way up the painting. Lavender purple, blush-pink, and white clouds trundle across the ice-blue sky above. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “C. Pissarro, 1873.”
Camille Pissarro, Landscape, Ile-de-France, 1873, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.18.40

Landscape, Ile-de-France

Camille Pissarro · 1873 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.18.40

We look slightly down onto a bare, gnarled tree near a gray, dirt path, which leads back to a hamlet in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes, so many details are indistinct. To our left, the gray tree trunk sways to the left as the branches of its skeletal canopy nearly span the width of the painting. The path extends from the lower right corner of the painting into the distance, around a lattice-like fence, which also runs across the width of the canvas. To our right and facing away from us, a person wearing brown pants, a sky-blue shirt, and a gray cap leans his forearms on the chest-high fence as he presumably talks with the woman standing on the other side. She wears a long navy-blue dress with a sea-blue apron and a tan hat. The land enclosed within the fence is painted with bands of peanut brown and sage green. Another woman wearing a slate-blue skirt, a sky-blue shirt, and a white cap walks away from us down the path using a cane or walking stick. To her right is a thicket of loosely painted moss-green and rust-brown foliage. Across a gully in the distance, a white picket fence separates us from the small village. The buildings have white or beige walls and pitched terracotta-red, tan, or denim-blue roofs. Beyond these structures, flax-brown trees are silhouetted against a light blue sky with fluffy white clouds. The artist signed and dated the painting in dark brown in the lower left corner: “C. Pissarro. 1872.”
Camille Pissarro, The Fence, 1872, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.31

The Fence

Camille Pissarro · 1872 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.31

A tree with emerald-green leaves and laden with white blossoms grows in a dirt field, and is silhouetted against a vibrant blue sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible dabs and strokes. The tree takes up most of the left half of the painting, and is closest to us. It casts a dappled shadow onto the ground to our right. A barren tree with gnarled branches grows nearby, in the tree’s shadow. A row of more trees extends in the distance to our right. A narrow dirt path, bordered by low green growth, stretches from the bottom edge of the canvas, to our right of center, into the field. To our left and farther from us, a woman leans over and reaches for the ground. She faces our left in profile and wears a white bonnet, a brown shawl, and a blue skirt. Near the line of trees to our right, a man walks toward the woman. He wears blue pants, a white shirt, a dark cap, and he carries a tan bag over his left shoulder. There are more trees along the horizon, which comes about a third of the way up the composition. The sky above is light gray near the horizon and deepens to vivid blue with fluffy white clouds. The painting is signed and dated in the lower right: “C. Pissarro 1872.”
Camille Pissarro, Orchard in Bloom, Louveciennes, 1872, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.51

Orchard in Bloom, Louveciennes

Camille Pissarro · 1872 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.51

A small complex of white buildings with red-tile roofs are engulfed in a patchwork of lush, green farm fields over rolling hills in this nearly square painting. The sun-drenched scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes in shades of spring, clover, and pine green, with touches of caramel and sand brown. The horizon comes about three-quarters of the way up the composition, and white clouds float against the pale blue sky above. Small in scale, a few people walk along pathways between fields and a few work among the crops. The cluster of buildings is situated along the base of a hill that rises in the distance, about halfway up the painting. A man wearing a straw hat, a white shirt, and denim-blue overalls walks away from us, perhaps carrying a long-handled tool in the lower left corner of the painting. Another person, perhaps a woman wearing a dress and white cap, stands at a fence along the path, near the man. The artist signed and dated the work with dark paint in the lower right corner: “C.Pissarro.68.”
Camille Pissarro, Landscape at Les Pâtis, Pontoise, 1868, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David Rockefeller, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991.101.1

Landscape at Les Pâtis, Pontoise

Camille Pissarro · 1868 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1991.101.1