Camille Pissarro

Camille Pissarro, the sole painter to display artworks in all eight Impressionist exhibitions held from 1874 to 1886, emerged as a crucial artist and guide within the movement. In contrast to the urban scenes and leisurely countryside often depicted by the Impressionists, Pissarro's canvases were filled with scenes of everyday life among French peasants. 

Biography Camille Pissarro

Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro was born into a Jewish-Portuguese family and was raised in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, which was then known as the Danish West Indies. His parents, Frederic Pissarro and Rachel Petit, operated a modest general hardware business and encouraged their four sons to follow in the family's footsteps.

In 1842, Pissarro was sent to a boarding school in Passy near Paris, France, to complete his education. There, his artistic inclinations began to take shape, largely due to the influence of the headmaster, Monsieur Savary. Savary encouraged Pissarro to draw directly from nature, emphasizing the importance of observing each object empirically to capture its true essence. Upon returning to St. Thomas at the age of 17 to work in the family business, Pissarro found himself drawn more to art than commerce. Even while engaged in the day-to-day operations of the hardware business, he continued to sketch scenes of ships at the docks during his leisure time.

In the early 1850s, Pissarro left the family business behind after a fateful encounter with the Danish painter Fritz Melbye. He followed Melbye to Caracas, Venezuela, where he made the firm decision to pursue a career as a painter. This marked the beginning of a determined independence that Pissarro would maintain throughout his life. Largely self-taught, he remained unwavering in his dedication to his art, a stance that often resulted in enduring financial struggles.

By 1855, Pissarro had returned to Paris, where he was introduced to the works of notable artists such as Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet, Charles-François Daubigny, and Jean-François Millet at the Exposition Universelle. He also began attending private classes at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1856. Working closely with Corot, who encouraged him to submit his works to the Salon, Pissarro continued his artistic development.

Attending classes at the Académie Suisse in 1859 proved to be a significant moment for Pissarro, as it was there that he met Cézanne, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. 

In 1861, Pissarro registered as a copyist at the Musée du Louvre, immersing himself further in the world of art. During this period, he crossed paths with Julie Vellay, the daughter of a vineyard owner from Burgundy. Their marriage took place in London in 1871, and over time they welcomed eight children into their family.

The tragic loss of his daughter Jeanne-Rachel, affectionately known as "Minette," in 1874 deeply affected Pissarro. She succumbed to tuberculosis at the tender age of eight, prompting Pissarro to create a series of poignant paintings that captured the last year of her life in intimate detail.

In the late 1860s, Pissarro began submitting his works to the Salon. His landscapes from this period reveal a deep understanding of the compositional techniques employed by the French masters of the eighteenth century. However, during these years, Pissarro also formed close ties with the Impressionist group.

While maintaining a studio in Paris, Pissarro preferred the tranquility of Louveciennes, a rural area located approximately 12 miles west of the bustling city — a place favored by the Impressionists. Here, away from the urban hustle, he painted outdoors (en plein air), capturing peasant life in natural surroundings. His focus shifted towards exploring light effects and the atmospheric nuances brought about by changing seasons. These evolving interests in his art marked the development of the Impressionist style.

Despite having his work accepted at the official Salon in 1859, Pissarro found himself exhibiting at the Salon des Refusés alongside Édouard Manet's dissenting group in the 1860s. This experience was a significant precursor to his involvement in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874.

The first half of the 1870s stands as the pinnacle of Pissarro's career, marked by the creation of some of his most notable works, such as "Hoar Frost, the Old Road to Ennery, Pontoise" (1873). Several significant personal experiences contributed to the sophistication of his mature period. Between 1870 and 1871, he sought refuge in London to escape the tumultuous events of the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, during which time the majority of his earlier works were lost. In London, Pissarro became acquainted with Claude Monet, and both artists developed an appreciation for the works of J.M.W. Turner displayed at the National Gallery. Their introduction to the art dealer Paul-Durand Ruel by Daubigny would later prove pivotal, as Ruel became Pissarro's agent in France.

Upon his return to Paris, Pissarro and Monet took the initiative to organize the inaugural Impressionist exhibition in 1874, hosted at the gallery of the photographer Nadar. Despite facing harsh criticism and confusion from the public, Pissarro's contributions garnered more thoughtful analysis from writer and art critic Philippe Burty. Burty recognized a stylistic kinship between Pissarro's work and that of Millet, a connection that was also noted by the critic Theodore Duret in his correspondence with Pissarro.

In the mid-1880s, Pissarro embarked on collaborations with the emerging Neo-Impressionist painters Paul Signac and Georges Seurat. Aesthetically, Pissarro was drawn to the Pointillist technique embraced by Signac and Seurat, as it was rooted in color theory. Politically, Pissarro held strong anarchist beliefs. He saw the color harmonies inherent in Pointillism, achieved through the juxtaposition of complementary colors, as symbolizing the utopian ideal of social harmony. This notion was akin to the anarchist vision of unity and cooperation among individuals in a society without hierarchical structures.

The idea of Pissarro as a political artist remains a subject of debate, but events in his personal life provide evidence of his deeply held affiliations. In 1894, following the assassination of the French president by an Italian anarchist, Pissarro briefly relocated his family to Belgium to escape potential political persecution. Shortly thereafter, a rift occurred between Pissarro and his close friend Degas over the Dreyfus Affair (1894-1906).

The Dreyfus Affair began with the wrongful conviction of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish military captain, for treason by the French government. When it was revealed that Dreyfus was innocent and the government attempted to cover up its error rather than admit fault, French society showed troubling signs of anti-Semitism. This deeply disturbed Pissarro, who was Jewish. Degas, among others, displayed latent anti-Semitic sentiments in response to the scandal. His prejudice became so pronounced that he would cross the street to avoid encountering his former friend and artistic collaborator, Pissarro.

Pissarro passed away before the Dreyfus Affair reached its resolution, but this polarizing incident heightened his dedication to social justice in his final years. Despite battling a recurring eye infection late in life, which hindered his ability to work outdoors, Pissarro continued to paint from the windows of his home and certain Parisian hotels. He eventually succumbed to sepsis, or blood poisoning, in 1903. 

Camille Pissarro's Art Style

Camille Pissarro's earliest artistic studies took place in Paris, France, and Caracas, Venezuela. In Paris, he received an education emphasizing empirical Realism, a foundation that remained integral to his entire artistic career. In Caracas, he delved into the study of nature and peasant life under tropical conditions, focusing on the interplay of light and color—concepts that would later become central to Impressionist themes and theories.

Pissarro's most significant contributions blend his interest in rural themes with a meticulous examination of nature in various lighting and atmospheric conditions, influenced by his deep study of French Realism.

It's crucial to understand that Pissarro's art was deeply intertwined with his political beliefs. Inspired artistically by the Realist painter Gustave Courbet, Pissarro's paintings celebrated the dignity of peasant labor in communal villages. These depictions were not only artistic expressions but also reflections of his socialist-anarchist political convictions, which he shared with Courbet. 

By the late 1870s, Pissarro's artistic direction began to show a divergence from a purely Impressionist style, reflecting a blend of conflicting stylistic choices. As Impressionism gained wider acceptance, Pissarro sought to maintain the avant-garde nature of his art by exploring new theoretical concepts. He collaborated with Edgar Degas on prints, drawing inspiration from the compositional techniques employed by Japanese woodblock engravers.

In his later years, Pissarro collaborated closely with the younger Neo-Impressionists Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, becoming one of the pioneering artists to explore color harmonies. His canvases are characterized by broken, dashed brushstrokes of complementary colors, interwoven to enhance the vibrancy of his compositions. Through this technique, Pissarro seamlessly integrates his peasant figures into the landscapes they inhabit, creating a visual and symbolic connection between the people and their surroundings. This aspect sets his work apart from traditional Impressionist painting, emphasizing a deeper, more profound link to the land.