Camille Pissarro (1830 - 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (then in the Danish West Indies). His Pissarro studied from great forerunners, including Gustave Courbet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. He later studied and worked alongside Georges Seurat and Paul Signac when he took on the Neo-Impressionist style at the age of 54 (from Wikipedia). The self-portrait above is from 1873.
Woman Carrying a Pitcher on Her Head (1855)
Kicking off with a rather unknown painting depicting his West Indian roots. The style is still very much in the realistic vain of the Romanticists.
The Telegraph Tower at Montmartre (1863)
Although usually still classified as realism, one does detects the first hints of impressionism in this work.
The Lock at Pontoise (1869)
A favourite subject for impressionist painters. Pontoise is one of the capitals of the impressionist movement. Many painters took as a starting point the city and its area for the creation of landscapes. Camille Pissarro lived there for seventeen years.
Chestnut Trees, Louveciennes, Winter (1872)
Louveciennes (near Paris) was frequented by impressionist painters in the 19th century; according to the official site, there are over 120 paintings by Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, and Monet depicting Louveciennes (from Wiki). This is a scene van Gogh could have tackled as well.
Fishermen on the Banks of the Oise (1876)
The Oise is a side river of the Seine. This is the type of landscape that often recurred in impressionist paintings.
Red Roofs, Corner of a Village, Winter (1877)
I selected this one for nostalgic reasons - in hindsight, this was probably my first encounter with Pissarro's art, as it was used for the cover of a CD with the piano quintets of Gabriel Fauré on the Hyperion label, which I bought around 1990.
View of Rouen (1883)
As we lived in Rouen for over two years at the start of this century, I had to include one of his paintings of this city - another favourite spot for impressionists, in particular Monet.
Hyde Park, London (1890)
Pissarro had several prolonged stays in England, so it would be in appropriate not to pick at least one of the paintings he made there. I opted for this beautiful take on Hyde Park.
Peasant Women Planting Stakes (1891)
Back to the French country side (I guess) for this charming portrayal of four young women at work.
Poultry Market, Pontoise (1892)
With many of his paintings I would immediately guess "Pissarro" (or to be honest, "Pissarro or Sisley"). Not this one. So I decided to include it in today's post for variety.
Bathers (1894)
Nudity is less frequent in impressionist paintings than in the preceding styles - possibly for practical reasons as most of these paintings were created outside. This is a very charming exception.
Windmill at Knokke, Belgium (1894)
Dutchman sees windmill, posts windmill. Even if it is actually in Belgium, rather than the Netherlands.
Copyright statement: images all in public domain.
