Camille Pissarro
Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro (/ʒa'kɔb abra'am kam'ij(ə) pisa'ʁo/; Charlotte Amalie, 10 luglio 1830 – Parigi, 13 novembre 1903) è stato un pittore francese, tra i maggiori esponenti dell'Impressionismo.
Biografia
Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro nacque il 10 luglio 1830 a St. Thomas, nelle isole Antille, all'epoca note come Indie Occidentali: il padre, Frederick Pissarro, era francese con origini ebreo-portoghesi mentre la madre, Rachel Manzano, era una creola nativa dell'isola. Papà Frederick era giunto sull'isola alla ricerca di fortuna per succedere negli affari di uno zio defunto, il quale quand'era in vita era titolare di una piccola bottega.A dodici anni Pissarro, assecondando le volontà del padre, andò a studiare in Francia, nella scuola di un sobborgo parigino, Passy. Fu proprio grazie ai continui stimoli degli insegnanti di quest'istituto che Pissarro maturò una sincera passione per il disegno e la pittura, che ebbe modo di mettere a frutto quando diciassettenne fece ritorno alle Antille. La sua passione per le Belle Arti, tuttavia, fu fortemente ostacolata dal padre, che desiderava piuttosto che si avviasse alla carriera di merciaio, ritenendola meno azzardata sotto il profilo economico. Nonostante queste rilevanti difficoltà Pissarro non abbandonò mai le sue ambizioni pittoriche, che coltivava allorquando ne avesse l'opportunità.
Un'amicizia, tuttavia, era destinata a cambiare per sempre il destino del giovane Camille: quella con Fritz Melbye, pittore danese dal quale fu persuaso a dedicarsi pienamente all'arte. Ormai animato da un'intensa irrequietudine creativa Pissarro decise di abbandonare le Antille e di fuggire in Venezuela, dove eseguì i suoi primi dipinti per pagarsi il viaggio per l'Europa. Fu solo in quel momento, quando Pissarro si divideva tra Caracas e La Guaira, che Frederick Pissarro decise di assecondare i desideri del figlio.
In Francia
Pissarro giunse a Parigi nel 1855, in un momento in cui la città serbava un grandissimo fervore artistico, ben espresso nell'Esposizione Universale tenutasi proprio in quell'anno e nelle novità pittoriche introdotte da Gustave Courbet. Dopo un iniziale apprendistato presso Anton Melbye, fratello dell'amico Fritz, Pissarro frequentò assiduamente le lezioni dell'École des Beaux-Arts e dell'Académie Suisse. Ben presto, tuttavia, l'aspirante pittore arrivò a ritenere la mera disciplina accademica sterile ed avvilente e perciò si accostò alla pittura di Courbet, Charles-François Daubigny, Jean-François Millet e Corot, della cui influenza si parlerà nel paragrafo Fonti di ispirazione.A Parigi Pissarro ebbe modo di conoscere approfonditamente Claude Monet, Armand Guillaumin e Paul Cézanne, altri artisti che come lui nutrivano una spiccata insofferenza per i convenzionalismi accademici e per la dittatura artistica dei Salon: con quest'ultimo termine ci si riferiva ad un'esposizione periodica dove le opere candidate dovevano sopravvivere al vaglio di una giuria, la quale ovviamente accettava quelle ligie alla tradizione e respingeva quelle più originali. Grazie a queste solide e belle amicizie Pissarro aveva l'opportunità di condividere le proprie esperienze artistiche con qualcuno, sapendo al contempo di non essere solo nella sua «battaglia» pittorica. Lo stesso Pissarro, felice della fraterna amicizia che lo legava con Cézanne, avrebbe esplicitamente confessato: «A Pontoise Cézanne ha subito la mia influenza e io la sua. Per Bacco, stavamo sempre insieme».
Dopo lo scoppio della guerra franco-prussiana Pissarro si rifugiò a Norwood, un villaggio alla periferia di Londra: fu nella capitale britannica che incontrò Paul Durand-Ruel, mercante d'arte che con mirabile lungimiranza scoprì l'autentico valore degli Impressionisti in un periodo in cui erano ignorati, se non violentemente disprezzati. Meno felice, tuttavia, fu il ritorno a Parigi nel 1871: una volta sopraggiunto nell'atelier, infatti, scoprì che molti dei 1,500 dipinti che aveva realizzato in più di venti anni erano stati saccheggiati o distrutti dalle milizie prussiane. A consolarlo, per fortuna, vi fu il matrimonio con Julie Vellay, figlia di un noto viticoltore con la quale avrebbe generato ben sette bambini.
Nonostante l'oltraggioso affronto ricevuto dalle truppe prussiane, Pissarro continuò a lavorare alacremente e a giungere a mutamenti stilistici e tematici anche radicali, dei quali si parlerà sempre nel paragrafo Stile. Per il suo carattere aperto e conciliante e per gli incoraggiamenti che sapeva infondere nei giovani artisti (fu lui, infatti, a scoprire il genio di Van Gogh), venne visto da tutti gli impressionisti come l'anima che seppe mantenere unito il gruppo per tanti anni. La sua produttività diminuì drasticamente solo dopo un atroce abbassamento alla vista, accompagnato da un'intensa fotosensibilità: ciò malgrado continuò a dipingere, guardando dai vetri delle finestre degli alberghi nei quali alloggiava. Un contemporaneo lo descriveva così: «Lo si poteva vedere da mattina a sera, un vegliardo dalla lunga barba bianca, davanti alla finestra [...] e al cavalletto, la tavolozza in mano, un berretto in testa, lo sguardo acuto e sereno». Morì infine a Parigi il 13 novembre del 1903.
Stile
Fonti di ispirazione
I dipinti di Pissarro ricevettero lezioni fondamentali da Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot e dei vari pittori di Barbizon, i quali avevano cercato di liberare il paesaggismo dalle pastoie della pittura classica, impegnandosi al contempo di trascrivere direttamente il paesaggio sulla tela con una grande attenzione agli stimoli cromatici e luminosi. Altra preziosissima fonte di ispirazione fu il repertorio pittorico di Gustave Courbet, dal quale Pissarro attinse le composizioni saldamente costruite e i vigorosi contrasti.Al di là di Constable e Turner, che Pissarro apprezzò durante il soggiorno londinese, molto potente fu l'influenza esercitata dalle antichissime stampe giapponesi, nelle quali viene delineata un'atmosfera fluttuante, fiabesca, grazie all'utilizzo di colori smaglianti e di composizioni ardite. Pissarro ne rimase profondamente affascinato, al punto da rivolgere al figlio Lucien le seguenti parole:
| « È meraviglioso. Ecco cosa intravedo nell'arte di questo sorprendente popolo ... niente che salta immediatamente all'occhio, una calma, una grandezza, un'unità straordinaria, una radiosità tenue e sommessa » |
| (Camille Pissarro) |
Pissarro e l'Impressionismo
Considerando la sua partecipazione alle varie esposizioni del gruppo è fin troppo facile dare per scontato che Camille Pissarro risponda alla generica definizione di «pittore impressionista». Egli, in realtà, si pose in maniera ambivalente davanti alle ambizioni del gruppo: se da un lato decantava la mobilità della luce e degli effetti cromatici e le potenzialità del principio compositivo en plein air, impiegando al contempo macchie di colori piccole e irregolari, dall'altra dava vita a composizioni che, seppur in assenza di linee di contorno, sono solide e ben congeniate, inondate di una luce che «modella ed evidenzia le forme con dolcezza e vivacità, pur non arrivando mai a dissolverle» (Cricco; Di Teodoro). «Bisogna eseguire molto per rendersi la cosa familiare»: era questa la massima che Pissarro spesso rivolgeva agli amici, palesando un evidente scetticismo verso la poetica dell'attimo e della fuggevolezza promossa da altri pittori impressionisti, come Monet. Se inoltre gli Impressionisti canonici erano completamente assoggettati alla paesaggistica, Pissarro era interessato anche alle fisionomie umane, rese tuttavia staticamente, senza l'elettrizzante dinamismo che animava le figure di Degas.Nonostante queste divergenze Pissarro esercitò una forte e duratura influenza sugli Impressionisti. Rewald non esita a definirlo «un decano della stagione impressionista», non solo per la sua età (era il più anziano del gruppo), ma anche per la «virtù della sua saggezza e il suo carattere equilibrato, generoso, cordiale». Per Renoir era «rivoluzionario», mentre Cézanne ammise senza pudori di sorta che «per me [Pissarro] è stato un padre. Era un uomo da consultare, qualcosa di simile al buon Dio», al punto da presentarsi come «Paul Cézanne, allievo di Pissarro», artista che ritenne sempre «il primo impressionista». «Père Pissarro» [padre Pissarro] era un soprannome che gli veniva attribuito da tutti coloro con i quali il pittore aveva intessuto un'amicizia nutrita da vicendevole stima e affetto, proprio come in un rapporto padre-figlio.
Armand Silvestre arrivò persino a definirlo «l'inventore della pittura impressionista», ruolo che tuttavia è più prudente assegnare a Monet: l'adesione all'Impressionismo di Pissarro, infatti, era più ideale che sostanziale, proprio per i motivi elencati nel precedente paragrafo. Ciò, tuttavia, non deve sminuire l'impegno impressionista di Pissarro, artista che frequentava con entusiasmo il Caffé Guerbois - abituale ritrovo dei suoi colleghi - e che fu, addirittura, l'unico a partecipare a tutte le Esposizioni, che si succedettero fino al 1886.
Pissarro e il Neoimpressionismo
Seurat
Nemmeno Pissarro, tuttavia, uscì indenne da quella che è stata definita la «crisi dell'Impressionismo», avvenuta quando ormai il movimento aveva ormai perso ogni spinta propulsiva, con i vari artisti che iniziarono a seguire esclusivamente la loro sensibilità. Così fece Pissarro, il quale aderì per qualche momento agli indirizzi artistico-scientifici del Divisionismo, gettandosi a capofitto in una nuova avventura stilistica nonostante l'età ormai avanzata. L'alfiere di questo movimento era Georges Seurat, artista che dopo essersi interessato alle ricerche di cromatica del chimico Michel-Eugène Chevreul sviluppò una tecnica detta del pointillisme, consistente nell'accostamento di colori puri sotto forma di minuscoli puntini depositati sulla superficie pittorica con la punta del pennello. Apprezzando molto le teorie di Seurat Pissarro ne emulò la maniera per qualche anno, dando vita a quadri come Donne in un campo, Isola Lacroix, Rouen effetto di nebbia.Quella divisionista, tuttavia, era una tecnica che imponeva un approccio sostanzialmente teorico e gestazioni lunghissime, certamente difformi dall'indole energica di Pissarro e dalla sua volontà di instaurare un contatto vitale con la Natura. Di seguito si riporta la lettera che Pissarro indirizzò a un amico, spiegandogli il perché delle sue scelte stilistiche:
Tematiche
Esasperato, il pittore avrebbe coraggiosamente ripreso la sua antica maniera nel 1890, ma stavolta con un rinnovato vigore e con un'esperienza ora decisamente consolidata. A questa rivoluzione del linguaggio pittorico corrisponde un profondo rinnovamento dei contenuti: se prima dell'approdo neoimpressionista Pissarro era interessato soprattutto a una registrazione degli aspetti cangianti del suolo e della natura, raffigurati con le armonie dei bruni e dei rossi, ora la sua attenzione era rivolta agli spazi urbani di Parigi, spesso raffigurati da audaci prospettive collocate in alto. Il repertorio pittorico di Pissarro dunque si arricchisce di prospettive dinamiche di boulevard, piazze, fiumi e ponti, nel tentativo di sublimare in arte l'animata e vibrante vita urbana della ville lumière.| « Dopo aver sperimentato questa teoria per quattro anni per poi abbandonarla, non mi posso più considerare un neo-impressionista ... Quella neo-impressionista era una tecnica che non mi consentiva di essere ligio alle mie sensazioni e che, pertanto, mi impediva di rappresentare la vita, il movimento: né potevo essere fedele agli effetti ammirevoli e caotici della natura, o magari conferire un carisma al mio disegno ... Alla fine ho rinunciato » |
| (Camille Pissarro) |
Camille
Pissarro: Estudio del Artista en Saint Thomas (Melby aparece de pie a
la derecha: al lado suyo, sentado esta el joven Pisarro. Sepia y lápiz
(1851) Colección Banco Central de Venezuela Comprada en Hammer Galleries
de New York en junio de 1965.
In 1873 he helped establish a collective society of fifteen aspiring artists, becoming the "pivotal" figure in holding the group together and encouraging the other members. Art historian John Rewald called Pissarro the "dean of the Impressionist painters", not only because he was the oldest of the group, but also "by virtue of his wisdom and his balanced, kind, and warmhearted personality". Cézanne said "he was a father for me. A man to consult and a little like the good Lord," and he was also one of Gauguin's masters. Renoir referred to his work as "revolutionary", through his artistic portrayals of the "common man", as Pissarro insisted on painting individuals in natural settings without "artifice or grandeur".
Pissarro is the only artist to have shown his work at all eight Paris Impressionist exhibitions, from 1874 to 1886. He "acted as a father figure not only to the Impressionists" but to all four of the major Post-Impressionists, including Georges Seurat, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.
Early years
Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro was born on 10 July 1830 on the island of St. Thomas to Frederick and Rachel Manzano de Pissarro. His father was of Portuguese Jewish descent and held French nationality. His mother was from a French-Jewish family from the island of St. Thomas. His father was a merchant who came to the island from France to deal with the hardware store of a deceased uncle and married his widow. The marriage caused a stir within St. Thomas' small Jewish community because she was previously married to Frederick's uncle and according to Jewish law a man is forbidden from marrying his aunt. In subsequent years his four children were forced to attend the all-black primary school. Upon his death, his will specified that his estate be split equally between the synagogue and St. Thomas' Protestant church.When Camille was twelve his father sent him to boarding school in France. He studied at the Savary Academy in Passy near Paris. While a young student, he developed an early appreciation of the French art masters. Monsieur Savary himself gave him a strong grounding in drawing and painting and suggested he draw from nature when he returned to St. Thomas, which he did when he was seventeen. However, his father preferred he work in his business, giving him a job working as a cargo clerk. He took every opportunity during those next five years at the job to practise drawing during breaks and after work.
When Pissarro turned twenty-one, Danish artist Fritz Melbye, then living on St. Thomas, inspired him to take on painting as a full-time profession, becoming his teacher and friend. Pissarro then chose to leave his family and job and live in Venezuela, where he and Melbye spent the next two years working as artists in Caracas and La Guaira. He drew everything he could, including landscapes, village scenes, and numerous sketches, enough to fill up multiple sketchbooks. In 1855 he moved back to Paris where he began working as assistant to Anton Melbye, Fritz Melbye's brother.
Life in France
In Paris he worked as assistant to Danish painter Anton Melbye. He also studied paintings by other artists whose style impressed him: Courbet, Charles-François Daubigny, Jean-François Millet, and Corot. He also enrolled in various classes taught by masters, at schools such as École des Beaux-Arts and Académie Suisse. But Pissarro eventually found their teaching methods "stifling," states art historian John Rewald. This prompted him to search for alternative instruction, which he requested and received from Corot.:11Paris Salon and Corot's influence
His initial paintings were in accord with the standards at the time to be displayed at the Paris Salon, the official body whose academic traditions dictated the kind of art that was acceptable. The Salon's annual exhibition was essentially the only marketplace for young artists to gain exposure. As a result, Pissarro worked in the traditional and prescribed manner to satisfy the tastes of its official committee.In 1859 his first painting was accepted and exhibited. His other paintings during that period were influenced by Camille Corot, who tutored him. He and Corot both shared a love of rural scenes painted from nature. It was by Corot that Pissarro was inspired to paint outdoors, also called "plein air" painting. Pissarro found Corot, along with the work of Gustave Courbet, to be "statements of pictorial truth," writes Rewald. He discussed their work often. Jean-François Millet was another whose work he admired, especially his "sentimental renditions of rural life".:12
Use of natural outdoor settings
During this period Pissarro began to understand and appreciate the importance of expressing on canvas the beauties of nature without adulteration.:12 After a year in Paris, he therefore began to leave the city and paint scenes in the countryside to capture the daily reality of village life. He found the French countryside to be "picturesque," and worthy of being painted. It was still mostly agricultural and sometimes called the "golden age of the peasantry".:17 Pissarro later explained the technique of painting outdoors to a student:- "Work at the same time upon sky, water, branches, ground, keeping everything going on an equal basis and unceasingly rework until you have got it. Paint generously and unhesitatingly, for it is best not to lose the first impression."
With Monet, Cézanne, and Guillaumin
In 1859, while attending the free school, the Académie Suisse, Pissarro became friends with a number of younger artists who likewise chose to paint in the more realistic style. Among them were Claude Monet, Armand Guillaumin and Paul Cézanne. What they shared in common was their dissatisfaction with the dictates of the Salon. Cézanne's work had been mocked at the time by the others in the school, and, writes Rewald, in his later years Cézanne "never forgot the sympathy and understanding with which Pissarro encouraged him.":16 As a part of the group, Pissarro was comforted from knowing he was not alone, and that others similarly struggled with their art.Pissarro agreed with the group about the importance of portraying individuals in natural settings, and expressed his dislike of any artifice or grandeur in his works, despite what the Salon demanded for its exhibits. In 1863 almost all of the group's paintings were rejected by the Salon, and French Emperor Napoleon III instead decided to place their paintings in a separate exhibit hall, the Salon des Refusés. However, only works of Pissarro and Cézanne were included, and the separate exhibit brought a hostile response from both the officials of the Salon and the public.
In subsequent Salon exhibits of 1865 and 1866, Pissarro acknowledged his influences from Melbye and Corot, whom he listed as his masters in the catalogue. But in the exhibition of 1868 he no longer credited other artists as an influence, in effect declaring his independence as a painter. This was noted at the time by art critic and author Émile Zola, who offered his opinion:
"Camille Pissarro is one of the three or four true painters of this day ... I have rarely encountered a technique that is so sure."
Another writer tries to describe elements of Pissarro's style:
- "The brightness of his palette envelops objects in atmosphere ... He paints the smell of the earth.":35
In the late 1860s or early 1870s, Pissarro became fascinated with Japanese prints, which influenced his desire to experiment in new compositions. He described the art to his son Lucien:
- "It is marvelous. This is what I see in the art of this astonishing people ... nothing that leaps to the eye, a calm, a grandeur, an extraordinary unity, a rather subdued radiance ...":19
Marriage and children
In 1871 in Croydon he married his mother's maid, Julie Vellay, a vineyard grower's daughter, with whom he would later have seven children. They lived outside Paris in Pontoise and later in Louveciennes, both of which places inspired many of his paintings including scenes of village life, along with rivers, woods, and people at work. He also kept in touch with the other artists of his earlier group, especially Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and Frédéric Bazille.The London years
After the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, having only Danish nationality and being unable to join the army, he moved his family to Norwood, then a village on the edge of London. However, his style of painting, which was a forerunner of what was later called "Impressionism", did not do well. He wrote to his friend, Theodore Duret, that "my painting doesn't catch on, not at all ..."Pissarro met the Paris art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, in London, who became the dealer who helped sell his art for most of his life. Durand-Ruel put him in touch with Monet who was likewise in London during this period. They both viewed the work of British landscape artists John Constable and J. M. W. Turner, which confirmed their belief that their style of open air painting gave the truest depiction of light and atmosphere, an effect that they felt could not be achieved in the studio alone. Pissarro's paintings also began to take on a more spontaneous look, with loosely blended brushstrokes and areas of impasto, giving more depth to the work.
Paintings
Through the paintings Pissarro completed at this time, he records Sydenham and the Norwoods at a time when they were just recently connected by railways, but prior to the expansion of suburbia. One of the largest of these paintings is a view of St. Bartholomew's Church at Lawrie Park Avenue, commonly known as The Avenue, Sydenham, in the collection of the London National Gallery. Twelve oil paintings date from his stay in Upper Norwood and are listed and illustrated in the catalogue raisonné prepared jointly by his fifth child Ludovic-Rodolphe Pissarro and Lionello Venturi and published in 1939. These paintings include Norwood Under the Snow, and Lordship Lane Station, views of The Crystal Palace relocated from Hyde Park, Dulwich College, Sydenham Hill, All Saints Church Upper Norwood, and a lost painting of St. Stephen's Church.Returning to France, in 1890 Pissarro again visited England and painted some ten scenes of central London. He came back again in 1892, painting in Kew Gardens and Kew Green, and also in 1897, when he produced several oils described as being of Bedford Park, Chiswick, but in fact all being of the nearby Stamford Brook area except for one of Bath Road, which runs from Stamford Brook along the south edge of Bedford Park.
French Impressionism
When Pissarro returned to his home in France after the war, he discovered that of the 1,500 paintings he had done over 20 years, which he was forced to leave behind when he moved to London, only 40 remained. The rest had been damaged or destroyed by the soldiers, who often used them as floor mats outside in the mud to keep their boots clean. It is assumed that many of those lost were done in the Impressionist style he was then developing, thereby "documenting the birth of Impressionism." Armand Silvestre, a critic, went so far as to call Pissarro "basically the inventor of this [Impressionist] painting"; however, Pissarro's role in the Impressionist movement was "less that of the great man of ideas than that of the good counselor and appeaser ..." "Monet ... could be seen as the guiding force.":280, 283He soon reestablished his friendships with the other Impressionist artists of his earlier group, including Cézanne, Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Degas. Pissarro now expressed his opinion to the group that he wanted an alternative to the Salon so their group could display their own unique styles.
To assist in that endeavour, in 1873 he helped establish a separate collective, called the "Société Anonyme des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs et Graveurs," which included fifteen artists. Pissarro created the group's first charter and became the "pivotal" figure in establishing and holding the group together. One writer noted that with his prematurely grey beard, the forty-three-year-old Pissarro was regarded as a "wise elder and father figure" by the group. Yet he was able to work alongside the other artists on equal terms due to his youthful temperament and creativity. Another writer said of him that "he has unchanging spiritual youth and the look of an ancestor who remained a young man".:36
Impressionist exhibitions that shocked the critics
The following year, in 1874, the group held their first 'Impressionist' Exhibition, which shocked and "horrified" the critics, who primarily appreciated only scenes portraying religious, historical, or mythological settings. They found fault with the Impressionist paintings on many grounds:- The subject matter was considered "vulgar" and "commonplace," with scenes of street people going about their everyday lives. Pissarro's paintings, for instance, showed scenes of muddy, dirty, and unkempt settings;
- The manner of painting was too sketchy and looked incomplete, especially compared to the traditional styles of the period. The use of visible and expressive brushwork by all the artists was considered an insult to the craft of traditional artists, who often spent weeks on their work. Here, the paintings were often done in one sitting and the paints were applied wet-on-wet;
- The use of color by the Impressionists relied on new theories they developed, such as having shadows painted with the reflected light of surrounding, and often unseen, objects.
A "revolutionary" style
Pissarro showed five of his paintings, all landscapes, at the exhibit, and again Émile Zola praised his art and that of the others. In the Impressionist exhibit of 1876; however, art critic Albert Wolff complained in his review, "Try to make M. Pissarro understand that trees are not violet, that sky is not the color of fresh butter ..." Journalist and art critic Octave Mirbeau on the other hand, writes, "Camille Pissarro has been a revolutionary through the revitalized working methods with which he has endowed painting".:36 According to Rewald, Pissarro had taken on an attitude more simple and natural than the other artists. He writes:- "Rather than glorifying—consciously or not—the rugged existence of the peasants, he placed them without any 'pose' in their habitual surroundings, thus becoming an objective chronicler of one of the many facets of contemporary life.":20
Pissarro, Degas, and American impressionist Mary Cassatt planned a journal of their original prints in the late 1870s, a project that nevertheless came to nothing when Degas withdrew. Art historian and the artist's great-grandson Joachim Pissarro notes that they "professed a passionate disdain for the Salons and refused to exhibit at them." Together they shared an "almost militant resolution" against the Salon, and through their later correspondences it is clear that their mutual admiration "was based on a kinship of ethical as well as aesthetic concerns".
Cassatt had befriended Degas and Pissarro years earlier when she joined Pissarro's newly formed French Impressionist group and gave up opportunities to exhibit in the United States. She and Pissarro were often treated as "two outsiders" by the Salon since neither were French or had become French citizens. However, she was "fired up with the cause" of promoting Impressionism and looked forward to exhibiting "out of solidarity with her new friends". Towards the end of the 1890s she began to distance herself from the Impressionists, avoiding Degas at times she did not have the strength to defend herself against his "wicked tongue". Instead, she came to prefer the company of "the gentle Camille Pissarro", with whom she could speak frankly about the changing attitudes toward art. She once described him as a teacher "that could have taught the stones to draw correctly."
Neo-Impressionist period
By the 1880s, Pissarro began to explore new themes and methods of painting to break out of what he felt was an artistic "mire". As a result, Pissarro went back to his earlier themes by painting the life of country people, which he had done in Venezuela in his youth. Degas described Pissarro's subjects as "peasants working to make a living".However, this period also marked the end of the Impressionist period due to Pissarro's leaving the movement. As Joachim Pissarro points out, "Once such a die-hard Impressionist as Pissarro had turned his back on Impressionism, it was apparent that Impressionism had no chance of surviving ...":52
It was Pissarro's intention during this period to help "educate the public" by painting people at work or at home in realistic settings, without idealising their lives. Pierre-Auguste Renoir, in 1882, referred to Pissarro's work during this period as "revolutionary," in his attempt to portray the "common man." Pissarro himself did not use his art to overtly preach any kind of political message, however, although his preference for painting humble subjects was intended to be seen and purchased by his upper class clientele. He also began painting with a more unified brushwork along with pure strokes of color.
Studying with Seurat and Signac
In 1885 he met Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, both of whom relied on a more "scientific" theory of painting by using very small patches of pure colours to create the illusion of blended colours and shading when viewed from a distance. Pissarro then spent the years from 1885 to 1888 practising this more time-consuming and laborious technique, referred to as pointillism. The paintings that resulted were distinctly different from his Impressionist works, and were on display in the 1886 Impressionist Exhibition, but under a separate section, along with works by Seurat, Signac, and his son Lucien.All four works were considered an "exception" to the eighth exhibition. Joachim Pissarro notes that virtually every reviewer who commented on Pissarro's work noted "his extraordinary capacity to change his art, revise his position and take on new challenges.":52 One critic writes:
- "It is difficult to speak of Camille Pissarro ... What we have here is a fighter from way back, a master who continually grows and courageously adapts to new theories.":51
In 1884, art dealer Theo van Gogh asked Pissarro if he would take in his older brother, Vincent, as a boarder in his home. Lucien Pissarro wrote that his father was impressed by Van Gogh's work and had "foreseen the power of this artist", who was 23 years younger. Although Van Gogh never boarded with him, Pissarro did explain to him the various ways of finding and expressing light and color, ideas which he later used in his paintings, notes Lucien.:43
Abandoning Neo-Impressionism
Pissarro eventually turned away from Neo-Impressionism, claiming its system was too artificial. He explains in a letter to a friend:- "Having tried this theory for four years and having then abandoned it ... I can no longer consider myself one of the neo-impressionists ... It was impossible to be true to my sensations and consequently to render life and movement, impossible to be faithful to the effects, so random and so admirable, of nature, impossible to give an individual character to my drawing, [that] I had to give up.":41
But the change also added to Pissarro's continual financial hardship which he felt until his 60s. His "headstrong courage and a tenacity to undertake and sustain the career of an artist", writes Joachim Pissarro, was due to his "lack of fear of the immediate repercussions" of his stylistic decisions. In addition, his work was strong enough to "bolster his morale and keep him going", he writes. His Impressionist contemporaries, however, continued to view his independence as a "mark of integrity", and they turned to him for advice, referring to him as "Père Pissarro" (father Pissarro).
Later years
In his older age Pissarro suffered from a recurring eye infection that prevented him from working outdoors except in warm weather. As a result of this disability, he began painting outdoor scenes while sitting by the window of hotel rooms. He often chose hotel rooms on upper levels to get a broader view. He moved around northern France and painted from hotels in Rouen, Paris, Le Havre and Dieppe. On his visits to London, he would do the same.Pissarro died in Paris on 13 November 1903 and was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Legacy and influence
During the period Pissarro exhibited his works, art critic Armand Silvestre had called Pissarro the "most real and most naive member" of the Impressionist group. His work has also been described by art historian Diane Kelder as expressing "the same quiet dignity, sincerity, and durability that distinguished his person." She adds that "no member of the group did more to mediate the internecine disputes that threatened at times to break it apart, and no one was a more diligent proselytizer of the new painting."According to Pissarro's son, Lucien, his father painted regularly with Cézanne beginning in 1872. He recalls that Cézanne walked a few miles to join Pissarro at various settings in Pontoise. While they shared ideas during their work, the younger Cézanne wanted to study the countryside through Pissarro's eyes, as he admired Pissarro's landscapes from the 1860s. Cézanne, although only nine years younger than Pissarro, said that "he was a father for me. A man to consult and a little like the good Lord."
Lucien Pissarro was taught painting by his father, and described him as a "splendid teacher, never imposing his personality on his pupil." Gauguin, who also studied under him, referred to Pissarro "as a force with which future artists would have to reckon". Art historian Diane Kelder notes that it was Pissarro who introduced Gauguin, who was then a young stockbroker studying to become an artist, to Degas and Cézanne. Gauguin, near the end of his career, wrote a letter to a friend in 1902, shortly before Pissarro's death:
- "If we observe the totality of Pissarro's work, we find there, despite fluctuations, not only an extreme artistic will, never belied, but also an essentially intuitive, purebred art ... He was one of my masters and I do not deny him.":45
Caribbean author and scholar Derek Walcott based his book-length poem, Tiepolo's Hound (2000), on Pissarro's life.
Lost and found paintings
During the early 1930s throughout Europe, Jewish owners of numerous fine art masterpieces found themselves forced to give up or sell off their collections for minimal prices due to anti-Jewish laws created by the new Nazi regime. Many Jews were forced to flee Germany. When those forced into exile owned valuables, including artwork, they were often seized by officials for personal gain. In the decades after World War II, many art masterpieces were found on display in various galleries and museums in Europe and the United States. Some, as a result of legal action, were later returned to the families of the original owners. Many of the recovered paintings were then donated to the same or other museums as a gift.One such lost piece, Pissarro's 1897 oil painting, Rue St. Honoré, Apres Midi, Effet de Pluie, was discovered hanging at Madrid's government-owned museum, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. In January 2011 the Spanish government denied a request by the US ambassador to return the painting. At the subsequent trial in Los Angeles, the court ruled that the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation was the rightful owner. Pissarro's Le Quai Malaquais, Printemps is said to have been similarly stolen, while in 1999, Pissarro's 1897 Le Boulevard de Montmartre, Matinée de Printemps appeared in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, its donor having been unaware of its pre-war provenance. In January 2012, Le Marché aux Poissons (The Fish Market), a color monotype, was returned after 30 years.
During his lifetime, Camille Pissarro sold few of his paintings. By the 21st century, however, his paintings were selling for millions. An auction record for the artist was set on 6 November 2007 at Christie's in New York, where a group of four paintings, Les Quatre Saisons (the Four Seasons), sold for $14,601,000 (estimate $12,000,000 – $18,000,000). In November 2009 Le Pont Boieldieu et la Gare d'Orléans, Rouen, Soleil sold for $7,026,500 at Sotheby's in New York. In February 2014 the 1897 Le Boulevard de Montmartre, Matinée de Printemps, originally owned by the German industrialist and Holocaust victim Max Silberberg (de), sold at Sotheby's in London for £19.9M, nearly five times the previous record.
A family of painters
Camille's son Lucien was an Impressionist and Neo-impressionist painter as were his second and third sons Georges Henri Manzana Pissarro and Félix Pissarro. Lucien's daughter Orovida Pissarro was also a painter. Camille's great-grandson, Joachim Pissarro, became Head Curator of Drawing and Painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and a professor in Hunter College's Art Department. Camille's great-granddaughter, Lélia Pissarro, has had her work exhibited alongside her great-grandfather. From the only daughter of Camille, Jeanne Pissarro, other painters include Henri Bonin-Pissarro (1918–2003) and Claude Bonin-Pissarro (born 1921), who is the father of the Abstract artist Frédéric Bonin-Pissarro (born 1964).
Plaza Mayor, Caracas, mid XIX century 1854
Quotes of Camille Pissarro
- sorted chronologically, by date of the quotes of Pissarro
Quotes, 1850's + 1860's
- I am settled in France, and as for the rest of my history as a painter, it is bound up with the impressionistic group.
- his remark, circa 1856; as quoted in Brush and Pencil, Vol. XIII, no. 6 , article: 'Camille Pissarro' Impressionist'; by Henry G Stephens, March, 1904, p. 412-13
- quote, after his stay of three year without success in Venezuela, and returning back to Paris
Quotes, 1870's
- Lighten your palette [his remark to Cézanne circa 1873, to encourage Cézanne to use bright colors], paint only with the three primary colours and their derivatives.
- As quoted in Cezanne his Life and Art, Jack Linssey, – Evelyn, Adams and Mackay, London, 1969, p. 154-55
- Pissarro 'guided' the wild Cézanne for a few years in painting landscape; for a decade or so in the mid-19th century they often worked side by side and influenced each other
- Renoir is a great success on the Salon; I think he is 'launched'. All the better! It's a very hard life, being poor.
- Quote in a letter to Mr. Murer, 27th May 1879, as quoted in Renoir – his life and work Francois Fosca, Book Club Associates /Thames and Hudson Ltd, London 1975, p. 129
- What I have suffered you cannot imagine. But what I'm going
through [circa 1878] now is even worse, much more so than when I was
young.. ..because now I feel as if I have no future. Even so, if I had
to do it again, I still think I wouldn't hesitate.
- As quoted in Pissarro, His Life and Work, Shikes and Harper, Horizon Press, 1980, p. 142
Quotes, 1880's
- The
next day he [uncle Alfred] took me to hear the 'Concert Colonne' at the
Chatelet. First we lunched and then went to the hall. There was a fine
program! Schumann, Bizet (new to me), Berlioz (ditto). - I can scarcely
express how I marveled at the Hamlet and Romeo et Juliette of Berlioz.
- He belongs with Delacroix, with Shakespeare, he is of the same
family, he has the mark of these men of genius. He is prodigious in
movement, imagination, strangeness, vigor, delicacy, sense of contrast,
he is terrible and suave.
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, Paris, 2 April 1883, in a letter to his son Lucien; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 26
- The ones [compliments] I value most came from Edgar Degas who said he was happy to see my work becoming more and more pure. The etcher Bracquemond,
a pupil of Ingres, said - possibly he meant what he said - that my work
shows increasing strength. I will calmly tread the path I have taken,
and try to do my best. At bottom, I have only a vague sense of its
rightness or wrongness. I am much disturbed by my unpolished and rough
execution. I should like to develop a smoother technique which, while
retaining the old fierceness, would be rid of those jarring notes which
make it difficult to see my canvases clearly except when the light falls
in front. There lies the difficulty - not to speak of drawing.
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, Paris, 4 May 1883, in a letter to his son Lucien; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, pp. 29-30
- his comment after having seen his own painting-show at Durand-Ruel 's gallery in Paris, May 1883
- I well remember that around 1874, Duret,
who is above reproach, Duret himself said to me with all sorts of
circumlocutions that I was on the wrong track, that everyone thought so,
including my best friends.. .I admit that when alone, with nobody to
prompt me, I reproached myself similarly, - I plumbed myself, - decision
was terribly hard. - Should I, yes or no, persevere [or seek] another
way? I concluded in the affirmative, I took into account the risks of
the unknown, and I was right to stick.
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, Paris, 9 May 1883, in a letter to his son Lucien; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, pp. 30-31
- note 1: Duret in letters urged Pissarro to abandon the impressionist group and to try to be admitted to the official Salon where his work would be seen by forty thousand people. Duret advises him to make 'paintings which have a subject, something resembling composition, pictures not too freshly painted' (from note 1. John Rewald
- I am hard at work, at least I work as much as the weather
permits. - I began a work the motif of which is the river bank in the
direction of St. Paul's Church. Looking towards Rouen I have before me
all the houses on the quays lighted by the morning sun, in the
background the stone bridge, to the left the island with its houses,
factories, boats, launches, to the right a mass of pinnaces of all
colors.. .Yesterday, not having the sun, I began another work on the
same motif in grey weather, only I looked more to the right [603]. I
must leave you for my motif. I have a room on the street. I shall start
on a view of the street in fog for it has been foggy every morning until
eleven o'clock—noon. It should be interesting, the square in the fog,
the tramways, the goings and comings..
- Quote in a letter, Rouen 11 October 1883, to his son Lucien; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 40
- The day after your departure I started a new painting at Le
Cours-la-Reine, in the afternoon in a glow of sun, and another in the
morning by the water below St. Paul's Church. These two canvases are
fairly well advanced, but I still need one session in fine weather
without too much mist to give them a little firmness. Until now I have
not been able to find the effect I want, I have even been forced to
change the effect a bit, which is always dangerous. I have also an
effect of fog.. .Until now I have not been able to find the effect I
want, I have even been forced to change the effect a bit, which is
always dangerous. I have also an effect of fog, another, same effect,
from my window, the same motif in the rain, several sketches in oils,
done on the quays near the boats; the next day it was impossible to go
on, everything was confused, the motifs no longer existed ; one has to
realize them in a single session.
- Quote in a letter from Rouen 11 October 1883, to his son Lucien; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 42
- I recognize fully that you do not draw well, my dear Lucien
[his son, also painter]. I told you any number of times that it is
essential to have known forms in the eye and in the hand. It is only by
drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine
day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in
its true character.
- In a letter, 1883, to his son Lucien; as quoted by C., & Rewald, in Camille Pissarro: Letters to his son Lucien, New York: Pantheon Books, 1943 p. 32
- I have just concluded my series of paintings, I look at them
constantly. I who made them often find them horrible. I understand them
only at rare moments, when I have forgotten all about them, on days when
I feel kindly disposed and indulgent to their poor maker. Sometimes I
am horribly afraid to turn round canvases which I have piled against the
wall; I am constantly afraid of finding monsters where I believed there
were precious gems !.. .Thus it does not astonish me that the critics
in London relegate me to the lowest rank. Alas! I fear that they are
only too justified! - However, at times I come across works of mine
which are soundly done and really in my style, and at such moments I
find great solace. But no more of that. Painting, art in general,
enchants me. It is my life. What else matters?
- Quote in a letter, 20 Nov. 1883; as quoted in Painting Outside the lines, Patterns of Creativity in Modern Art, ed. David W. Galenson, Harvard University Press, 30 Jun 2009, p. 84
- I brought Durand
eight pictures, among them my 'Sunset' and the motif done from my
window. They have been praised, but I find them poor, - tame, grey,
monotonous, - I am not at all satisfied. - I am working with fury and I
have finally discovered the right execution, the search for which has
tormented me for a year. I am pretty sure I have it now, all I need is
to spend this coming autumn in Rouen or in some other place where I can
find striking motifs.
- Quote of Pissarro, from Osny, February 1884, in a letter to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 61
- The weather is superb except for a very keen wind which
causes me to lose much time. - I am doing a portrait of your mother in
pastel, it seems it is not adequate as a likeness, it is too old, too
red, not fine enough, in short, it won't do. This surprises me not at
all. You know that everyone accepts the one I made pretty obvious, but
that is not much good either.
- Quote in a letter to his son Lucien, Osny, 10 April 1885; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 26
- Yesterday Sisley
was looking for me everywhere. Madame Latouche told me that he wanted
some information about the technique of painting fans. Well, this means
my fans are spoken of.. .I only fear one thing: that they will finally
say that's all I am good for! [fans!]
- Quote from a letter, Paris, 5 February 1886, to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 68
- Yesterday I had a violent run-in with M. Eugene Manet on the subject of Seurat and Paul Signac.
The latter was present, as was Guillaumin. You may be sure I rated
Manet roundly. - Which will not please Renoir. - But anyhow, this is the
point, I explained to M. Manet, who probably didn't understand anything
I said, that Seurat has something new to contribute which these
gentlemen, despite their talent, are unable to appreciate, that I am
personally convinced of the progressive character of his art and certain
that in time it will yield extraordinary results. Besides I am not
concerned with the appreciation of artists, no matter whom. I do not
accept the snobbish judgments of "romantic impressionists" to whose
interest it is to combat new tendencies. I accept the challenge, that's
all..
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, in a letter, Paris, March 1886, to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, pp. 73-74
- Durand
likes my paintings, but not the style of execution. His son, the one
who went to New York with him, saw them but has not said a word to me. -
Durand prefers the old execution, however he grants that my recent
paintings have more light - in short, he isn't very keen. My 'Grey Weather'
doesn't please him; his son and Caseburne [Durand's cashier] also
dislike it.. .It appears that the subject is unpopular. They object to
the red roof and backyard just what gave character to the painting which
has the stamp of a modern primitive, and they dislike the brick houses,
precisely what inspired me..
- Quote in a letter, Paris, 27 July 1886, to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 80
- I wish it to be thoroughly under stood that it is Mr. Seurat,
an artist of great worth, who has been the first to conceive the idea
of applying the scientific theory after making a profound study of it. I
have only followed, like my confreres, the example set by Seurat.
- Quote in an autograph letter 6 Nov. 1886, to Mr. Durand; as quoted in Brush and Pencil, Vol. XIII, no. 6 , article: 'Camille Pissarro' Impressionist'; by Henry G Stephens, March, 1904, pp. 412-13
- I saw Guillaumin. We went to look at my two latest paintings which were bought by Durand.
All he said was 'there's no firmness in the foreground'. It was
evening, we were seeing the paintings by gas-light, which neutralized
the orange tones. As Seurat
says, what they [the Impressionists]] look for is thick impasto; but at
Clauzet's I saw a Guillaumin, also in the evening, and it looked made
of tar, so much shellac was used at the base of this painting, which in
my view is really old stuff; it must be admitted that he made an effort
to tighten the design but then the harmonies are insignificant and lack
logic - there is no drawing, there is a flurry of colors, but no
modeling; it is one step from [w: Jules Dupré|Jules Dupreé]] -
modernized.
- Quote of Pissarro, in a letter, Paris, 6 December 1886, to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 84
- My theory has been to discover the modern synthesis by
methods based upon science, methods based upon the theory of colors
discovered by M. Chevreul, in conformity with the experiments of Maxwell and the measurements of N. 0. Rood;
to substitute the optical mingling for the mingling of pigments; in
other words, the decomposition of all the colors into their constituent
elements; because the optical mingling excites much more intense
luminosity than the mingling of pigments. As for the execution, we
regard it as nothing; it is at any rate only unimportant, art having
nothing to do with it. According to us, the sole originality consists in
the character of the drawing and the vision individual to each artist.
- Quote in a letter, circa 1886-87; as quoted in Brush and Pencil, Vol. XIII, no. 6 , article: 'Camille Pissarro' Impressionist', by Henry G. Stephens; March, 1904, pp. 414-15
- I will have to leave for Paris as soon as you return. I did
two drawings [black on paper] with pen and in little dots - a 'Little
Market' and a 'St. Martin (Pig dealers)'. It would be a good thing if I
could sell them to some newspaper, that would bring us a few pennies..
.I still don't know what I am going to do, for Heymann seems completely
indifferent. He probably knows my position and naturally is waiting for
me to reduce my prices, just as Durand
did last time.. .If we could place these we could get a few cents
while waiting for this terrible month of January to pass.. .These
drawings matted look very well.
- Quote of Pissarro, in a letter, Paris, 5 December 1886, to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 86
- Bracquemond
tells me that he looked attentively at my works at our exhibition. Far
from objecting to them, as I expected, he said they were compactly
drawn, and modeled, but he is shocked by the dots; he enjoined me to
stick to divisionism but not to use the dot. - I said nothing to him of
our experiments. He told me that of all the impressionist
painters he liked my work best; this was not the first time he had said
this; to each one his own taste. He does completely accept my view that
the old disorderly method of execution has become impossible.
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, in a letter, Eragny, 23 January 1887, to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 97
- This morning I received a letter from de Bellio.
He writes that he does not believe scientific research into the nature
of color and light can help the artist, neither can anatomy nor the laws
of optics. He wants to discuss these questions with me and find out my
views. Now everything depends on how this knowledge is to be used. But
surely it is clear that we could not pursue our studies of light with
much assurance if we did not have as a guide the discoveries of Chevreul
and other scientists. I would not have distinguished between local
color and light if science had not given us the hint; the same holds
true for complementary colors, contrasting colors, etc. 'Yes', he will
tell me: 'but these have always been taken into account, look at Monet' It is at this point that the question becomes serious!
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, in a letter, Eragny, 23 February 1887, to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 99
- Tell [Père] Tanguy
to send me some paints. What I need most are ten tubes of white, two of
chrome yellow, one bright red, one brown lac, one ultramarine, five
Veronese green, one cobalt j I have on hand only one tube of white ... I
expect to begin to paint again from nature, and I need the colors.
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, in a letter, Eragny, 25 February 1887, to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 100
- I can quite understand the effort he is making; it is a very
good thing not to want to go on repeating oneself. But he has
concentrated all his attention on line; the figures stand out against
each other without any sort of relationship, and so the whole thing is
meaningless. Renoir is no draughtman, and without the lovely colours he used to use so instinctively, he is incoherent.
- In a letter to his son w:Lucien Pissarro, 14th May 1887, as quoted in Renoir – his life and work, Francois Fosca, Book Club Associates /Thames and Hudson Ltd, London 1975, p. 188
- Pissarro's critical quote on Renoir's painting art
- I have had a long talk with Renoir. He admitted that the whole crowd – Durand
and his former admirers – were shouting at him, deploring his attempt
to abandon his 'Romantic' period. He seems very sensitive to what we
think of his exhibition. I told him that as far as we were concerned,
the search for unity should be the aim of every intelligent artist. –
that even in spite of serious faults, it was more intelligent and
artistic than wallowing in romanticism.
- Quote in a letter to his son Lucien, 14th May 1887, as quoted in Renoir – his life and work, Francois Fosca, Book Club Associates /Thames and Hudson Ltd, London 1975, p. 189
- P.S. If you happen to see Seurat or if you write to Signac,
tell them that I have tried the mixture of cadmium (well recommended by
Contet) , with red, white and Veronese green. It becomes black in four
or five days from the Veronese green. Even blacker than the chrome
yellow mixture. Tell this to Contet.
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, in a letter, Paris, 31 May, 1887, to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 114
- I hope that with the help of van Van Gogh and Durand
we will be able to emerge from this situation [selling nothing]. It
seems to me that I deserve no less, since I have worked conscientiously.
I do not believe that anyone could devote - if not more talent - more
care and good will to the service of his art; it takes me hours of
reflection to decide on the slightest detail. Is this impatience?.. .I
think not! For I do not wish to make a brush stroke when I do not feel
complete mastery of my subject, there's the rub - that is the great
difficulty; without sensation, nothing, absolutely nothing valid.. .I
believe I have hit my stride. I have begun a series of things which will
really be in my style.
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, Eragny, 26 April 1888, in a letter to his son Lucien; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 124
- Theo van Gogh was working in the Paris' art-gallery Goupil & Cie and selling Impressionist artists
- I work mostly in the studio; as I mentioned several times,
the leaves are burgeoning and change so rapidly that I have been unable
to prepare a single sketch. I am making little watercolors and pastels, I
think they will come out all right; in the studio I am preparing five
or six canvases, I work on one after another, I am getting used to
working that way.
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, Eragny, 15 May 1888, in a letter to his son Lucien; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, pp. 125-126
- I think continually of some way of painting without the dot. I
hope to achieve this but I have not been able to solve the problem of
dividing the pure tone without harshness.. .How can one combine the
purity and simplicity of the dot with the fullness, suppleness, liberty,
spontaneity and freshness of sensation postulated by our impressionist
art? This is the question which preoccupies me, for the dot is meager,
lacking in body, diaphanous, more monotonous than simple, even in the Seurat's,
particularly in the Seurat's [paintings].. .I'm constantly pondering
this question, I shall go to the Louvre to look at certain painters who
are interesting from this point of view. Isn't it senseless that there
are no Turners [here]..
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, Paris, 6 September 1888, in a letter to his son Lucien; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, pp. 131-132
- [ Seurat's pointilist style ].. ..inhibits me and hinders the development of spontaneity of sensation.
- quote, c. 1888; as quoted in: Arts and Activities. Vol. 81-82, (1977), p. cxxxvii
- I don't know what to write Feneon
about the theory of 'passages'. I will write him what seems to me to be
the truth of the matter, that I am at this moment looking for some
substitute for the dot [which was the 'heart of
[w:Neo-Impressionism|Neo-Impressionist]] painting]; so far I have not
found what I want, the actual execution does not seem to me to be rapid
enough and does not follow sensation with enough inevitability, but it
would be best not to speak of this. The fact is I would be hard put to
express my meaning clearly, although I am completely aware of what I
lack.
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, in a letter, Paris, 20 February 1889, to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 134-135
- Rewald: 'This data was doubtless for an article in preparation. While the question of the 'passage', which was going to separate Camille Pissarro from pointillism and thus from Divisionism, was then the main preoccupation of the artist, Pissarro was still unable to express himself with precision on it.'
Quotes, 1890s
- I
began to understand my sensations, to know what I wanted, at around the
age of forty.. ..but only vaguely. At fifty, that is in 1880, I
formulated the idea of unity, without being able to render it. At sixty,
I am beginning to see the possibility of rendering it.
- (c. 1890); as quoted in Painting Outside the lines, Patterns of Creativity in Modern Art, David W. Galenson, Harvard University Press, 30 Jun 2009, p. 84
- Each one of us [artists] has several facets. The surface
often appears more important than what is inside, hence the errors of
those who judge carelessly. How many times has that not happened to me!
The surface is often complete in some people from the very beginning,
but not the possession of their own sensations. From this come errors.
Some natures achieve the surface very slowly j this is the least danger
an artist runs. So one should not think of the surface or the
appearance, but concentrate on what is inner!
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, Eragny, 17 November 1890, in a letter to his son Lucien; from Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, pp. 139-140
- What I dislike is that he [= Paul Gauguin
] copied these elements from the Japanese, the Byzantine painters and
others. I criticize him for not applying his synthesis to our modern
philosophy which is absolutely social, anti-authoritarian and
anti-mystical. - There is where the problem becomes serious. This is a
step backwards; Gauguin is not a seer, he is a schemer.. .The symbolists also take this line! What do you think? They must be fought like the pest!
- Quote of Camille Pissarro, in a letter to his son, 20 April 1891, in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien, ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro – (translated from the unpublished French letters by Lionel Abel); Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 163
- Here I have been able to make some good spring studies in
oils, and managed to finish my 'Cow-girl' and my 'seared Woman', and my
'London Park', Primrose Hill. I think these pictures have improved a
great deal from the point of view of unity. How different from the
studies! I am more than ever in favour of taking one's impression from
memory; it is less the actual thing - vulgarity disappears, leaving only
an aura of truth glimpsed, sensed. To think that this is not
understood, so that my anxiety for the future continues as before,
despite the success of the exhibition. – I have no news from Paris about
my collectors.
- Quote in a letter to his son Lucien, 26 April 1892, as quoted in Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock - , Richard Friedenthal, Thames and Hudson, London, 1963, p. 144
- One can do such lovely things with so little. Subjects that
are too beautiful end by appearing theatrical – take Switzerland, for
example. Think of all the beautiful little things Corot
did at Gisors; two willows, a little water, a bridge, like the picture
in the Universal Exhibition. What a masterpiece!.. .Everything is
beautiful, all that matters is to be able to interpret.
- In a letter to his son Lucien, 26 July 1892, as quoted in Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock - , Richard Friedenthal, Thames and Hudson, London, 1963, p. 146
- Quote of Pissarro, referring to a willow-painting of his former art-teacher Camille Corot
- ..I saw Gauguin; he told me his theories about art and
assured me that the young [artists] would find salvation by replenishing
themselves at remote and savage sources. I told him that this art did
not belong to him, that he was a civilized man and hence it was his
function to show us harmonious things. We parted, each unconvinced.
Gauguin is certainly not without talent, but how difficult it is for him
to find his own way! He is always poaching on someone's ground; now he
is pillaging the savages of Oceania.
- Quote about Paul Gauguin 23 Nov. 1893, in Racontars d'un Rapin, Paul Gauguin; as quoted by John Rewald, in 'Introduction' of Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien, ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro – (translated from the unpublished French letters by Lionel Abel); Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 221
- The weather today is frightful, rain and wind. You must be
having the same at Epping; it's a pity. It had been so fine for the last
few days and I had begun to grind away from nature. This is
infuriating, for it's the loveliest time of the year, September and
October. I can't stand the summer any more, with its heavy, monotonous
green, its dry distances where everything can be seen, the torment of
the great heat.. .Artistic sensations revive in September and October,
but then it rains and blows!
- In a letter to his son Lucien, 15 September 1893, as quoted in Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock - , Richard Friedenthal, Thames and Hudson, London, 1963, p. 148
- It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing
incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you
have rendered something in its true character.. .So much the better if
it is painful for you to take even the first step, the more toilsome the
work, the stronger you will emerge from it.. .I repeat, guard against
facility.
- Quote in a letter to his son Lucien (1894); as quoted in Painting Outside the lines, Patterns of Creativity in Modern Art, David W. Galenson, Harvard University Press, 30 Jun 2009, p. 84
- Work at the same time upon water, sky, branches, ground,
keeping everything going on an equal basis and unceasingly rework until
you have got it. Paint generously and unhesitatingly, for it is best not
to lose the first impression.
- his remark in 1896, as quoted in: Paul Cézanne, Terence Maloon, Angela Gundert (1998) Classic Cézanne, p. 45
- Don't be afraid of putting on color, refine the work little by little. Don't proceed according to rules and principles, but paint what you observe and feel.. .One must have only one master – nature; she is the one always be consulted.
- advice to a young painter, (1896); as quoted in Painting Outside the lines, Patterns of Creativity in Modern Art, ed. David W. Galenson, Harvard University Press, 30 Jun 2009, pp. 84-85, note 40
- Sisley,
I hear, is seriously ill. He is a great and beautiful artist, in my
opinion he is a master equal to the greatest. I have seen works of his
of rare amplitude and beauty, among others an 'Inundation' [in the Camondo collection], which is a masterpiece.
- In a letter to his son Lucien, 22th January 1899
Quotes, after 1900
- Decidedly,
we are at cross-purposes. What's all this you tell [from England] about
the modern movement, commercialism, etc, etc? It bears no relation to
our concept of art, at any rate here.. .That is where the error lies.
Trade serves those up to us as readily as anything else; so it is no
use. Wouldn't it be better to steep ourselves in genuine nature again? I
do not consider in the least that we are making a mistake, that we
should turn to the steam-engine and follow the general public [ William Morris,
the more traditional artist became very popular those days].. .No, a
thousand times no! We are here to point the way.. ..the remedy is to be
found in nature, more than ever. Let us follow what we consider to be
the proper aim, we shall see who is right. After all, money is a fragile
thing; let us earn some of it, since we must, but let us keep to our
role.
- In a letter to his son Lucien, 26 April 1900, as quoted in Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock - , Richard Friedenthal, Thames and Hudson, London, 1963, p. 148
- This Mr. Dewhurst has not understood the Impressionist movement
in the very least. All he sees in it is a technical method.. .He also
says that before going to London we knew nothing whatsoever about light;
but we have studies that prove the contrary. He omits the influence of Claude Lorrain, Corot, all the 18th-century painters, Chardin most of all. But what he fails to realize is that while Turner and Constable
were of service to us, they confirmed our suspicion that those painters
had not understood 'The Analysis of Shadows', which in the case of
Turner are always a deliberate effect, a plain dark patch. As to the
division of tones, Turner confirmed us its value as a method, but not as
a means of accuracy or truth to nature. In any case, the 18th century
was our tradition. It seems to me that Turner too, had looked at Claude Lorrain. I am even inclined to think there is a picture by Turner, 'Sunset', hung side by side with a Claude.
- Quote in a letter to his son Lucien, 8 Mai 1903, as quoted in Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock - , Richard Friedenthal, Thames and Hudson, London, 1963, p. 149
- Quote of Pissarro - referring to the writer of the book Impressionist Painting, it Genesis and Development, published in 1904
undated quotes
- Work
is a wonderful regulator of mind and body. I forget all sorrow, grief,
bitterness, and I even ignore them altogether in the joy of working.
- In a letter to his son, Lucien; as quoted in: Brother Thomas (O.S.B.), Rosemary Williams (1999) Creation Out of Clay: The Ceramic Art and Writings of Brother Thomas. p. 45
- Never paint except with the three primary colors [red, blue, and yellow] and their derivatives.
- Attributed to Pisarro, in Philip Ball (2001() Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color. p. 178
- Advise to his students to lightening their palette and remove colours such as black, ocher and sienna
Quotes about Camille Pissarro
- sorted chronologically, by date of the quotes about Pissarro
- Your mother asks me to write to you to come and have dinner
with us today. Because this is the evening when we celebrate 'la fete de
Kipur' and on this solemn occasion the whole family should be together –
and tomorrow not work, we should pass that day together.
- his father, Frederic Pissarro, in his letter in 1859, to Camille; as quoted in 'Camille Pissarro, Rebbe of the Impressionists', by Menachem Wecker
- in a letter to his son Camille Pissarro, on the eve of Yom Kippur - reminding him about the holiday
- This [Pissarro's painting: ''Jalais Hill, Pontoise',
1867] is the modern countryside. One feels that man has passed by,
turning and cutting the earth.. .And this little valley, this hill have
a heroic simplicity and forthrightness. Nothing would be more banal
were it not so grand. From ordinary reality the painter's temperament
has drawn a rare poem of life and strength.
- Quote by Emile Zola, in his Salon 1868; as quoted in Metmuseum, information online
- It was then [c. 1873], as I remember that Paul Cézanne
began to paint with vertical divisions and Papa [his father, Camille
Pissarro] adopted the long brush to paint in little comma's. A peasant
who had watched them side by side at Auvers, remarked that 'M. Pissarro
at working, made little stabs at the canvas ('il piquait'), and M.
Cézanne laid on the paint like plaster ('il plaquait'). [Cézanne's
painting 'Small house at Auvers' is painted with some of these vertical
divisions that Lucien [the son of Camille Pissarro, and later also a
painter] noted then.
- Quote by his son Lucien Pissarro; as quoted in Pissarro, His Life and Work, Shikes and Harper, Horizon Press, 1980, p. 128
- What dreadful weather always [c. 1876] raining the poor
flowers were hardly open when the rain killed them our big red poppies
didn't even have time to appear before they disappeared and the roses,
poor roses it's so sad and what mud, impossible to put your feet out of
doors. ..it's so cold that the asparagus haven't come out, nor have the
peas or the beans I planted. Most of them have rotted I'll have to
plant them all over again. Luckily we are not ready to eat them yet, by
the grace of God. Write to us and tell me what you are doing.
- Quote of his wife Julie Pissarro, in a letter to her husband (Spring 1876) about the bad weather, as quoted in The private lives of the Impressionists, Sue Roe, Harpen Collins Publishers, New York 2006, p. 179
- Try telling M. Pissarro that trees are not purple, or the sky
the colour of butter; that the things he paints cannot actually be seen
anywhere in nature.. ..try to explain to M. Renoir
that a woman's torso is not a rotten mass of flesh, with violet-toned
green spots all over it, indicating a corps in the final stage of decay.
- Albert Wolff (1876), quote of the French art-critic in the Paris paper 'Figaro', 1876, criticizing the second Impressionist exhibition: 'Salon des Refugées'; as quoted in The private lives of the Impressionists, Sue Roe, Harpen Collins Publishers, New York 2006, p. 154
- If I dared, I should say that your letter is imprinted with
sadness. The picture business isn't going well; I fear that your morale
may be colored a little grey, but I'am sure that it's only a passing
phase.. .I imagine that you would be delighted with the country where I
am now.. ..in L'Estaque, by the sea..
- Quote of Paul Cezanne, in his Letter to Pissarro, from L'Estaque 2 July 1876, taken from Alex Danchev, The Letters of Paul Cézanne, 2013; as quoted in [the 'Daily Beast' online, 13 Oct. 2013
- I've started two little motifs of the sea, for Monsieur
Chocquet [one of them became his painting 'The Sea at L'Estaque'], who
had talked to me about it. It's like a playing card. Red roofs against
the blue sea.. .There are the olive trees and the pines that always
keep their leaves. The sun is so fierce that objects seem to be
silhouetted, not only in black or white, but in blue, red, brown,
violet. I may be wrong, but this seems to be the very opposite of
'modeling' How happy the gentle landscapists of Auvers would be here, and that [con, or 'bastard'?] Guillemet.
- Quote of Paul Cezanne, in his Letter to Pissarro, from L'Estaque 2 July 1876, taken from from Alex Danchev, The Letters of Paul Cézanne, 2013; as quoted in [the 'Daily Beast' online, 13 Oct. 2013
- 'The very opposite of modeling' meant roughly that Cézanne and Pissarro in their common painting-years would lay down one plane or patch of color next to another, without any 'modeling' or shading between them - so that it looked as if each component part of the painting could be picked up from the canvas a little like a 'playing card from the table', as Cezanne explains here.
- Great as was my wonderment [visiting the 8th Impressionist
Exhibition, May/June 1886, at 1, rue Laffitte in Paris] it was tenfold
increased on discovering that only six of these pictures were painted by
the new man, Seurat,
whose name was unknown to me; the other five were painted by my old
friend Pissarro.. .The pictures were hung low, so I went down on my
knees and examined the dotting in the pictures signed Seurat,
and the dotting in those that were signed, Pissarro. After a strict
examination I was able to detect some differences, and I began to
recognize the well-known touch even through this most wild and most
wonderful transformation. Yes, owing to a long and intimate acquaintance
with Pissarro and his work, I could distinguish between him and Seurat,
but to the ordinary visitor their pictures were identical.
- Quote of George Moore, 1886, in Modern Painting, new edition, 1898, p. 89; as quoted by John Rewald, in Georges Seurat', a monograph; Wittenborn and Compagny, New York, 1943, p. 30
- The impressionist paintings of Manet, Cezanne and Monsieur Degas,
express with exemplary sincerity the new sensations, the new world our
eyes experience. Now here the successors to these artists [ Seurat & Pissarro] are trying to perfect the forms created by them. They found in the notes of Delacroix, in the scientific discoveries of Chevreul and Rood,
the suggestion for a type of painting in which color impressions are
ordered by the combining of little multi-colored brush strokes. But
while they were attentive to such improvement of the means, they forgot
the true end of art, the sincere and complete expression of vivid
sensations. The works of these painters - Pissarro and Seurat are the
most notorious - are interesting only as the exercises of highly
mannered virtuosos. Their paintings are lifeless for the painters did
not strive for sincerity, being too taken up with external formulas.
- Quote of Teodor de Wyzewa in 'La Revue Independante', Nov.- Dec. 1886; as quoted by John Rewald, in Georges Seurat', a monograph; Wittenborn and Compagny, New York, 1943, p. 31
- M. Camille Pissarro has painted a field bathed in sunlight,
whose forms, colors and reflections are admirably synthesized. It is
more field than any field we have ever seen. We cannot understand what
interest the brutal paintings of M. Claude Monet and the simplicist
works of M. Renoir can have. Both these artists have taken the wrong
path.
- Jules Desclozeau, in his review of the International Exhibition, May 1887; quoted in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 111 note 23
- It's still misery for - may I say it? - us other
impressionists. I tried the overdoors again at Mme. Boivin's, but she
says it is her husband and he says it is she who does not want them
[buying Pissarro's paintings], even after having read your letter, he
did not want me to hang a painting very high so that he might judge the
effect. Thus I can do only one thing, which is to send you the enclosed
500 francs in advance on the business that we will do.. .When Miss
Rogers comes, I shall show her all my paintings [of Pissarro]. . ..he
must buy a painting of yours and not the least expensive. She ought to
be able to afford a fine painting at the customary price and she must
not let us down. Best regards from me and my wife, also to Mme.
Pissarro. When you have something new, let me know.
- Quote by Theo van Gogh, in a letter from Paris, 5 July 1890 to Pissarro; as quoted by Robert Harrison, (transl. Robert Harrison) number to.
- There is M. Camille Pissarro, who has some very ardent
admirers, and yet who is very foreign to me.. .It seems to me that he
admits lines and masses that a stricter taste would alter or avoid, and
that he includes objects that a more scrupulous artist would reject..
.He does not seem to care whether the line of shore is beautiful or not,
and he has so little objection to ugly objects that in one of his
pictures the tower of a distant cathedral is nearly obliterated by a
long chimney and the smoke that issues from it, whilst there are other
long chimneys close to the cathedral, just as they might present
themselves in a photograph. By this needless degree of fidelity, M.
Pissarro loses one of the great advantages of painting.
- Quote of P. G. Hamerton, 1891, in 'Impressionism', - 'The Present State of the Fine Arts in France', in The Portfolio, 1891
- Pissarro wants to achieve delicacy by means of adjustments of
nearly like tones; he keeps from juxtaposing two distant tones and does
without the vibrant note which such contrast gives, but strives on the
contrary to diminish the distance between two tints by introducing into
each one of them intermediate elements which he calls 'passage'. But the
neo-impressionist
technique is based precisely on this type of contrast, for which he
feels no need, and on the violent purity of tints which hurts his eye.
He has kept of divisionism
only the technique, the little dot, whose raison d'etre is exactly that
it enables the transcription of this contrast and the conservation of
this purity. So it is easy to understand why he [Pissarro] gave up this
means, insufficient as it is by itself.
- Quote of Paul Signac, in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, pp. 135
- Signac, in his book De Delacroix au Neo-impressionnisme, tried to explain in this way Pissarro's desertion from Neo-Impressionism around 1890
- That is why, perhaps, all of us derive Pissarro. He had the
good luck to be born in the West Indies, where he learned how to draw
without a teacher. He told me all about it. In 1865 he was already
cutting out black, bitumen, raw sienna and the ocher's. That's a fact.
Never paint with anything but the three primary colours and their
derivatives, he used to say me. Yes, he was the first Impressionist.
- Quote by Paul Cézanne in: 'What he told me – I. The motif', in Joachim Gasquet's Cézanne, - a Memoir with Conversations, (1897 - 1906); Thames and Hudson, London 1991; p. 164
- ..[Pissarro].. ..who was not thinking of posing as a revolutionist and who was tranquilly working in Corot's style.
- Claude Monet, in an interview with Thiebault-Sisson, 1900; as quoted in Monet and His Muse: Camille Monet in the Artist's Life, Mary Mathews Gedo; University of Chicago Press, Sept. 2010, p. 10 (note 35)
- Monet speaks about the period 1859-1860 when he himself enrolled in the loosely organized Acedemie Suisse in Paris, where he met Pissarro for the first time
- Pissarro wants to achieve delicacy by means of adjustments of
nearly like tones; he keeps from juxtaposing two distant tones and does
without the vibrant note which such contrast gives, but strives on the
contrary to diminish the distance between two tints by introducing into
each one of them intermediate elements which he calls 'passage'. But the
neo-impressionist
technique is based precisely on this type of contrast, for which he
feels no need, and on the violent purity of tints which hurts his eye.
He has kept of divisionism only the technique, the little dot, whose
raison d'etre is exactly that it enables the transcription of this
contrast and the conservation of this purity. So it is easy to
understand why he [Pissarro] gave up this means, insufficient as it is
by itself.
- As quoted by John Rewald, in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, pp. 135
- Paul Signac, in his book De Delacroix au Neo-impressionnisme, tried to explain in this way Camille Pissarro's desertion from Neo-Impressionism around 1890
- [Pissarro is] one of the three of four great painters of the
time. He possesses solidity and breadth of touch, he paints handsomely,
following tradition, like the masters.
- Emile Zola; as quoted by Rothkopf, K., & Lloyd, in Pissarro: Creating the impressionist landscape; Baltimore Museum of Art, 2006, p. 46
- If we observe the totality of Pissarro' s works, we find
there, despite the fluctuations, not only an extreme artistic will which
never lies, but what is more, an essentially intuitive pure-bred art..
.He looked at everybody, you say! Why not? Everyone looked at him, too,
but denied him. He was one of my masters and I do not deny him.
- Quote by Paul Gauguin c. 1902, in Racontars d'un Rapin, Paul Gauguin; as quoted by John Rewald, in 'Introduction' of Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien, ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro – (translated from the unpublished French letters by Lionel Abel); Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 15
- Gauguin (after Paul Cezanne) came to ask advice and painted landscape at the side of Pissarro. The traces of this apprenticeship as an impressionist were soon to disappear from Gauguin's works, but shortly before he died, he wrote these sentences about Pissarro
- It's like Impressionism.
They all do it at the Salons. Oh, very discreetly! I too was an
Impressionist. I don't conceal the fact. Pissarro had an enormous
influence on me. Bit I wanted to make out of Impressionism something
solid and lasting like the art of the museums.
- Quote by Paul Cézanne in: 'What he told me – I. The motif', in Joachim Gasquet's Cézanne, - a Memoir with Conversations, (1897 - 1906); Thames and Hudson, London 1991; p. 164
- Until the war [between France and Germany, c. 1870], as you know, my life was a mess. I wasted it. It was only at l'Estaque,
(1870-1871) when I thought things over, that I really understood
Pissarro, a painter like myself.. .He was a determined man. I was
overcome by a passion for work. It wasn't that I hadn't been working
before, I was always working. But what I always missed, you know, was a
comrade..
- Quote by Paul Cézanne in: 'What he told me – III. The Studio' in Joachim Gasquet's Cézanne, - a Memoir with Conversations, (1897 - 1906); Thames and Hudson, London 1991; p. 208
Camille Pissarro - Village au pied d'une
Camille Pissarro - Crique avec voilier (1856)
Camille Pissarro - Personnages discutant au bord d'un chemin (1856)
Deux femmes causant au bord de la mer, Saint Thomas (Camille Pissarro) – 1856
Selvportræt Camille Pissarro 1852-1854
Created: from 1857 until 1858
Camille Pissarro Paysage à Montmorency
circa 1859
Paysage à la Varenne-Saint-Hilaire by Camille Pissarro, 1863, oil on panel, 7½ by 9¾ in.
La Varenne Saint Hilaire (Camille Pissarro), Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest –1863
Bords de la Marne à Chennevières (Camille Pissarro), 1864
Camille Pissarro - Paysage (ca.1865)
1865 Pissarro Platz in La Roche-Guyon
Camille Pissarro - La Promenade à âne à La Roche-Guyon - 1865
Camille Pissarro - Bords de la Marne en Hiver 1866
Camille Pissarro - Rue L´Hermitage - 1866-68
Road to Versailles at Louveciennes 1869 Camille Pissarro
Grounds of the Château du Pont under Snow, Louveciennes 1870
Camille Pissarro - Fox Hill, Upper Norwood (1870)
Camille Pissarro - Au bord de la Seine à Port Marly (1871)
Camille Pissarro (French, 1830 - 1903 ), The Fence, 1872, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
June Morning at Pontoise - Camille Pissarro -1873
Camille Pissarro - Chemin a L'Hermitage, 1874
Piette by Pissarro 1875
Camille Pissarro Barges at Pontoise 1876 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Camille Pissarro - The Côte des Bœufs at L'Hermitage - 1877 - National Gallery London
Mère Et Enfant (Julie Pissarro Et Son Fils Ludovic-Rudolphe Dit Rodo) by Camille Pissarro, distemper on canvas, 81 by 65.1 cm, 1878
Camille Pissarro - The Hay Cart, Montfoucault -1879
Camille Pissarro, Peasant Woman, French, 1830 - 1903, 1880, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection
Camille Pissarro - Conversation -1881
Camille Pissarro - Etude de paysanne en plein air (paysane bêchant) - 1882
Camille Pissarro - Quais de Rouen (1883)
Created: from 1857 until 1858
circa 1859
Turkey Girl 1884
Camille Pissarro - Poultry Market at Gisors -1885
Camille Pissarro - La Briqueterie Delafolie à Éragny 1886
La Récolte des Foins, Eragny, oil on canvas, 51 x 66 cm
Camille Pissarro - La récolte des pommes à Éragny 1888
Stien 1889
Pissarro Hyde Park 1890
Camille Pissarro Two Young Peasant Women The Metropolitan Museum of Art
between 1891 and 1892
Bank Holiday, Kew by Camille Pissarro, 1892, oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm.
between 1897 and 1898
Towards the end of his life
Pissarro increasingly turned to the representation of town scenes in
Paris, Rouen, Dieppe, Le Havre and London, mainly painted from the
windows of hotels and apartments. In February 1897 he took a room in
Paris at the Hôtel de Russie on the corner of the Boulevard des Italiens
and the Rue Drouot, and produced a series of paintings of the Boulevard
Montmartre at different times of the day. Pissarro may have been
influenced by the series of paintings on which Monet was engaged at this
time, and by the earlier urban scenes of Manet.
This painting is the only night scene from this series, and is a
masterful rendition of the play of lights on dark and wet streets.
Pissarro neither signed nor exhibited it during his lifetime.
Rue de l'Épicerie, Rouen (Effect of Sunlight).jpg
Created: 1 January 1898
Created: 1 January 1898
Temps gris, matin avec figures, Éragny (Gray morning, with Figures, Éragny), oil painting by Camille Pissarro, 1899
Tuileries Gardens, Afternoon, Sun (1900) by Camille Pissarro,
oil on canvas, 73 x 92 cm, Israel Museum
Hay Harvest at Éragny, 1901, Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro - Vieux vigneron, Moret 1902
L’Anse des Pilotes, Le Harve, matin, soleil, marée montante by Camille Pissarro, 1903, oil on canvas, Musée Malraux, Le Havre
Self-portrait, 1903, Tate Gallery, London
Complete Works of Camille Pissarro - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP93cxg-Bd8
Jun 15, 2016 - Uploaded by Tuen Tony Kwok
ISSARRO, Camille (b. 1830, St Thomas, Virgin Islands, d. 1903, Paris) French painter and printmaker. He was ...Camille Pissarro Gallery, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxqXPUFvFvs
Dec 29, 2010 - Uploaded by islandshowcase
Born on St. Thomas on July 10, 1803 in the town of Charlotte Amalie, Camille Pissarro is probably the Virgin ...Camille Pissarro: A collection of 978 paintings (HD) - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjYod9Q32wg
Sep 2, 2016 - Uploaded by LearnFromMasters
Camille Pissarro: A collection of 978 paintings (HD) Description: "The only painter to exhibit in all eight ...Camille Pissarro: French Impressionist - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyQvjqychzA
Oct 19, 2009 - Uploaded by starrynight003
Camille Pissarro (1830 - 1903) "Painting, art in general, enchants me. It is my life. What else matters? When you ...Camille Pissarro, The Little Country Maid, 1882 - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WL9pr3JvVc
Jun 3, 2011 - Uploaded by ClarkArtInstitute
Camille Pissarro (French, 1830--1903) The Little Country Maid 1882 Oil on canvas Tate: Bequeathed by ...Camille Pissarro, Paul-Émile Pissarro Painting (Sketch), 1898 - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SBYnjYPPqI
Jun 7, 2011 - Uploaded by ClarkArtInstitute
Camille Pissarro (French, 1830--1903) Paul-Émile Pissarro Painting (Sketch) 1898 Oil on canvas Courtesy of ...Camille Pissarro - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O16AGSgrm8
Sep 25, 2008 - Uploaded by Oriol Hernan
Camille Pissarro (July 10, 1830 November 13, 1903) was a French Impressionist painter. His importance ...Camille Pissarro Great Art Collection - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH9NgaVeoUA
Jan 1, 2015 - Uploaded by Star Arts
Camille Pissarro Collection Movie by P. Gaillard - Star Arts Productions Camille Pissarro (10 July 1830 – 13 ...Camille Pissarro, Two Women Chatting by the Sea, Saint Thomas ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPjlFPZ0C8Y
Jun 3, 2011 - Uploaded by ClarkArtInstitute
Camille Pissarro (French, 1830--1903) Two Women Chatting by the Sea, Saint Thomas 1856 Oil on canvas ...
Groupe d'amis à Auvers-sur-Oise en 1874 à droite Camille Pissaro assis Paul Cézanne
les autres sont à gauche Martinès (photographe), puis derrière Cézanne ,
Alphonso (étudiant en médecine et peintre amateur), l'enfant Lucien
Pissarro (au mileu) et Aguiar (de Cuba).
in Coll Les Pissarro une famille d'artistes, Musées de Pontoise, Pontoise, 2006 p125
Camille Pissarro et sa femme en 1877 à Pontoise
Photograph of Camille Pissarro
circa 1890
circa 1890
Photo portrait of Camille Pissarro
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