Camille Pissarro, the first Impressionist

On July 2017, XNUMX, the exhibition dedicated to Camille Pissarro ended at the Musée Marmottan Monet, a very favorite museum of mine (which I wrote about inPrevious article). During my visit to Paris during Passover that year, I did not miss the impressive and successful exhibition, which brought together sixty of Pissarro's masterpieces from major museums in various cities around the world, including Jerusalem, as well as from private collections. And at the end of the visit, I was refreshed with an original wristwatch from the museum's boutique (45 euros), against the backdrop of a painting of nymphaea by Claude Monet (sorry for this tiny and completely insignificant piece of information. I'll update you that the watch lasted about four years).

Camille Pissarro was a great painter, like his close friend, the more famous Claude Monet, and the nickname “the first of the Impressionists” was given to him by Paul Cézanne, who chose him as a teacher and saw him as a father and advisor. Paul Gauguin would also later choose him as his first teacher, and both painters, Cézanne and Gauguin, were well aware of the fact that without Camille Pissarro they would not have become who they were, would not have achieved what they achieved.

Camille Pissarro was one of the founders of the Impressionist movement, its leader, and considered its father or older brother because he was about a decade older than the other members and served as their advisor and supporter. He was the one who wrote the movement's manifesto, was the only one to participate in all eight of its exhibitions, and was the first to eliminate the colors black and ochre from his paintings and instead preferred the bright tones adopted by the other Impressionists.

Many masterpieces, including “The Dam at Pontoise” (1872), which came from Cleveland, and “The Square of the Old Cemetery, Pontoise” (from the same year), which came from Pittsburgh, testify to the triumph of the Impressionists and the artistic maturity of Pissarro, their enthusiastic representative. Likewise, pictures from the permanent exhibition of Israel Museum in JerusalemThese and other sixty images, from various museums around the world and private collections, can be seen in the exhibition “Camille Pissarro, First of the Impressionists,” which was on display until its end on July 2, 2017, at the Musée Marmottan-Monet in Paris.

Pissarro was a good, humane, sociable man, a symbol of generosity and generosity, who lived for the sake of art and in its service, and did not stop painting until the day he died, at the age of 73. He left behind about 1500 pictures, 600 gouache paintings, 60 fans and many watercolors. A large collection of his works is in the Musée d'Orsay, but many others are scattered, as mentioned, around the world. Pissarro's house in Erraney-sur-Eppet, where he lived for the last twenty years of his life, remains standing, and the artist's grandchildren hope to open a museum there and establish a foundation. Pissarro's extensive correspondence, published in five volumes, are considered the bible of Impressionism.

The exhibition dedicated to Camille Pissarro traces his path from his childhood and youth on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas, where he was born, a Danish colony at the time, to the large urban series documenting Rouen, Dieppe, Le Havre and Paris. Camille Pissarro painted landscapes and figures, cities and villages, nature and industry.

One of the designers of Impressionism, a pioneer of Pointillism, Pissarro was an artist who never stopped evolving and changing styles. Throughout his life, he loved to constantly try new techniques. Pissarro was a humanist, moral, intellectual, polyglot, and never stopped working and innovating, for the sake of others and for himself, even though for most of his life he had difficulty supporting his large family.

His paintings began to sell well only when he was already sixty. Pissarro was not only a loyal friend of Monet, Cézanne and Gauguin but also a supporter of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. At the age of 56 he became enthusiastic about the technique of Neo-Impressionism and devoted several years to this method. He also painted many Japanese-influenced fans.

Camus Pissarro is considered worldwide to be one of the most important and influential artists in the history of French art, and the interest in him that has arisen in France in recent years, after being somewhat neglected in his own country, does him justice. “The modest and gigantic Pissarro,” as Cézanne defined it, is finally receiving the place he deserves.

Pissarro's early years

Jacob Abraham Camus Pissarro, the great French artist, son of a Jewish family, was born in 1830 on the small island of St. Thomas, very far from the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris and its influences, and his first paintings, about thirty in number, are dedicated to the landscapes of the Caribbean islands. At the beginning of the exhibition, a painting on loan from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, “Two Women Conversing on the Beach” (1856), stands out for its originality and exoticism.

The quality of light surrounding the two women in the peaceful scene reveals the talent of the young painter who would become one of the pillars of Impressionism, while signing his paintings with the name on his birth certificate, Pizrou. The painter's father, a wealthy merchant who opposed his son's choice to live as a painter, was a French Jew, born in Bordeaux, a descendant of the Anosim family from Portugal. His mother, Rachel, who was born on the island of St. Thomas, was also from a Jewish family. French, from the descendants of the Anusim.

In 1855, Pissarro settled in Paris and met the future Impressionists, who were interested in painting landscapes outdoors. “The Banks of the Marne” (1864), which came from a museum in Glasgow, testifies to his closeness to Jean-Baptiste Camus Corot and Charles-François Daubigny. This picture, which was displayed in the salon Paris 1864, although it reflects virtuosity, is not yet original and belongs to the pre-Impressionist period in Pissarro's artistic path.

Pontoise 1866-1868 and Loubessin 1869-1872

In 1866, Pissarro discovered Pontoise – an important turning point in his work and spent the summers there from 1866 to 1868. The inspiration that the place gave him encouraged his originality. The soft light of the end of the day and the silence in which the vegetable growers are immersed in their work contribute to the tranquility that reigns in the famous painting, called “The Mauvesson Garden, Pontoise” (1867). The picture came to the exhibition from the National Gallery in Prague.

Emile Zola Dedicates an enthusiastic article to Pissarro in which he defines him as one of the three or four painters of the period. In 1869 Pissarro moved with his family to Louveciennes, in a house on the road Versailles, and from time to time enjoyed visits from Claude Monet and their joint work. This important period in the history of Impressionism came to an end in 1870, due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, which forced Pissarro and Monet to leave their homes and flee to London.

When Pissarro returned to his home in June 1871, he discovered the devastation the Prussians had wrought on it. Hundreds of his paintings had disappeared. In the enormous painting, “Louvres,” which depicts the village where Pissarro lived from 1869 to 1872, the Marly aqueduct is visible on the right. The painting had a great influence on Paul Cézanne, who was among the first to discover him and recognize his talent. Thanks to the influence of this painting, Cézanne brightened his color scale and began a close dialogue with his first teacher, Pissarro, for the next ten years.

Pontoise 1872-1883

Pissarro left Louvain in 1872 to settle in Pontoise for about a decade, where he appreciated the varied landscapes, the banks of the Oise River and the surrounding hills, rural and bourgeois life, and the industrialization in its infancy. Claude Monet, Gustave Caillebotte, Paul Cézanne, Édouard Bellier, Paul Gauguin, all of them met in Pontoise, planned projects, worked together, influenced each other, and gave each other ideas.

“Frost at Enery” is an important painting in the history of Impressionism, one of five paintings by Pissarro, shown at the first exhibition (1874) of the pioneering group that was met with scorn at the beginning of its journey. A farmer, with a bundle of twigs on his back, is walking up the Enery road, near Pontoise, between fields, in frost. Puzzling bluish lines (furrows? A silhouette of trees missing from the picture?) cut the ground and correspond with the pink rays of light that cut the sky.

The painter gives the viewer his “impression” of a cold, bright winter morning. And the viewer can interpret the picture as he wishes. A light and airy morning marked by the thin, shining layer of frost that will soon melt in the rising sun? Or, on the contrary, a feeling of heaviness and distress, like the burden on the back of the lone farmer struggling to climb? Or both opposing feelings at the same time? Each according to his own impression. Impressionism means “impressionism.” The artist paints not what he sees but what he feels.

Eranyi-Sir-Eft 1884-1903

“Yes, we decided on Aranyi-sur-Eppet, the house is magnificent and not expensive: a thousand francs, with a garden and lawns. Two hours from Paris.” In 1884 the Pissarro family settled in Aranyi, a small, isolated village, which it shares with GivernyThe village where Claude Monet had settled a year earlier, on the Epe River. A kind of shared destiny unites the two painter-friends, Pissarro and Monet, who are separated by thirty kilometers.

Both fled to London during the war, both found a safe haven and a source of inspiration in the villages where they settled. And there are other commonalities between the two artists that can be explored in more depth. In 1892, Pissarro went from tenant to landlord with the help of a loan given to him by Monet. Pissarro's wife, Julie, grows vegetables and flowers in the garden, and her partner sets up a lighted studio for him in the barn. All his time is devoted to tracing the changes in weather and seasons, the air, the vapors, the clouds, and the light. Nature with its trees and flowers is at his disposal, as is all the time in the world. And the people.

While until now, the figures in Pissarro's paintings seemed to blend into the landscape, as if swallowed by it, now, under the influence of Edgar Degas, they become a central motif. The painting called "Girl with a Stick," or "The Shepherd," which depicts a delicate and dreamy girl against a background of rich, dotted nature, is a typical example of this style of the painter, who throughout his life loved to try new ways of expression.

This painting, also called “Seated Peasant Woman,” was transferred to the exhibition from the Musée d’Orsay. “Young Peasant Woman Wearing a Straw Hat,” painted the same year, came from Washington. These two paintings are among Pissarro’s most famous works.

Neo-Impressionism 1886-1890

In 1886, Pissarro came under the influence of Georges Seurat and the Neo-Impressionism he introduced. Pissarro, who had already begun painting with dots and spots for several years, allowed Georges Seurat and Paul Signac to exhibit their works at the Salon of 1886, in the same hall where he also exhibited his pictures.

Despite the opposition of the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, his loyal agent, and the lack of enthusiasm of his fans, Pissarro continued to paint in this method until the arduous labor involved put an end to its application. The artist preferred a more spontaneous approach but continued to maintain the lessons of the Neo-Impressionist technique – a cohesive composition, precise brushwork, and a light and pure color scale.

The exhibition presents the most important masterpieces of this period, including the fan-favorite “Flock of Sheep, Sunset” (1889) which came from Mexico, “The House of the Mute and the Bell Tower in Arany” (1886) which came from Indianapolis in the USA, and the highlight “Apple Picking” (from the same year) which came from the city of Kurashiki in Japan.

Ports and Cities 1883-1903

The end of the exhibition is dedicated to the last important period in the artist's life, when he painted ports and cities. In the autumn of 1883, Pissarro, feeling the need to renew his rural repertoire, traveled to Rouen, on the advice of his friend Claude Monet, and there he was moved by the sights of the medieval quarter with the cathedral, the workers' quarter, the Seine River and the large industrial port.

During four long visits, between 1883 and 1898, Pissarro would continue to describe his experiences. In 1901 and 1902, he diversified the landscapes of Rouen with a visit to Dieppe and in 1903 with a visit to Le Havre. In his pictures, he tried to “give an idea of ​​the movement, the life, the atmosphere in the port, full of ships emitting smoke, of the bridges, the chimneys, of the districts of the city at dusk, of the fog, of the sunset.” Pissarro painted these landscapes in different seasons and at different times of the day, from the window of the hotel where he was staying.

From 1893, Pissarro made extended visits to Paris, during the winter, and often painted its landscapes, encouraged by his agent, Durand-Ruel, to whom he returned after the rift in their relationship due to Pissarro's devotion to Pointillism. Initially, Pissarro painted the cityscapes from the windows of the hotel rooms where he stayed, but later he rented apartments (Place Dauphin and also 204 Rue Rivoli) and lived there for long periods.

In February 1897, Pissarro took a room at Le grand hôtel de Russie (literally: “The Grand Hotel of Russia”), a luxury hotel that had been destroyed by the paving of the last section of Boulevard Haussmann in 1923. Durand-Roel invited Pissarro to stay there in order to paint the boulevard from it. Montmartre at different times. The result was about fifteen images, including one at night. Here are four of them:

Until his death, Pissarro never stopped painting the dance of passers-by – the workers and travelers, the carriages, the water, the smoke, the steam, the fog and the haze, never ceasing his repeated attempts to capture the fleeting and changing and fix it on the canvas.

Note
The source of all of Camille Pissarro's photographs appearing in the article (except for the Boulevard Montmartre series) is the website The Marmottan Museum Monet.

Interested in reading more about Pissarro's works?

Welcome to the article The legal battle surrounding Camus Pissarro’s painting “Picking Peas”, which deals with a legal scandal involving one of his paintings.