Impressionism & Post Impressionism

CAMILLE PISSARRO (1830-1903)

Camille Pissarro was one of the few contributing artists who shaped the impressionist movement. Because Camille Pissarro was a french artist of Portuguese descent, he was often looked at as an outsider. In addition to his disliked origins, Pissarro’s art style was not idealized by the Paris salon. Like Monet and Cezanne, Pissarro’s approach to landscape paintings was much more experimental and modern at the time of realism, pre-impressionism, and pre-raphaelites. By not being able to showcase his artworks like his peers, Pissarro and other artists such as Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir began to create what was known as their own art exhibition. In 1873, Pissarro showcased five of his paintings, some including The Old Road to Ennery, Bourgeois House at L’Hermitage, Pontoise, and his own self-portrait.

The man in “The Old Road to Ennery” (1873) is shown to be doing his everyday tasks in the countryside.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Camille_Pissarro_-_Gel%C3%A9e_blanche,_ancienne_route_d%C2%B4Ennery,_Pontoise_-_1873.jpg

“Bourgeois House at L’Hermitage, Pontoise” (1873)
http://www.camillepissarro.org/bourgeois-house-in-at-hermitage-pontoise.jsp

Camille Pissarro’s self-portrait (1873)
https://www.wikiart.org/en/camille-pissarro/self-portrait-1873

When I look at Camille Pissarro’s pieces, I see myself enjoying his earlier works such as Paisaje tropical con casas rurales y palmeras much more compared to his more recent pieces. What I like about Paisaje tropical con casas rurales y palmeras is Pissarro’s choice of a warmer colour palette. Even though it is clear that Pissarro is not painting in a realistic manner, his figures in this piece are well recognizable, which I find it a little more challenging when I look at his later pieces. For instance, Haymaking, Éragny is a painting that I dislike because I find it hard to concentrate on what the main subject is. There appears to be no real subject manner. The painting’s delivery lacks depth and the colours are not my ideal compared to when I look at Paisaje tropical con casas rurales y palmeras.