Camille Pissarro experimented with different styles during his 4-decade career as a painter. His first works were in the style of Realism. After that, he was a leading figure in the Impressionist movement, moving to Neo-Impressionism and Pointillism, returning to Impressionism at the end of his career.
Most art historians agree that although Pissarro’s style was not Impressionistic throughout his painting career, there would have been no Impressionist movement without him. Art scholars have rightfully named him the “Father of Impressionism.”
In this article, we’ll briefly look at Pissarro’s life’s “timeline” and then discuss the characteristics of his paintings and his favorite painting style.
All about Painter Pissarro – his Life in short
Painter Pissarro was born in 1830 in St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies. When he was 12 years old, he was sent to a boarding school in France. At the school, he received his first painting and drawing lessons. In the late 1840s, he returned to St. Thomas, but not to work in his family’s business because he had decided to become a full-time artist.
Just after he had arrived back in St Thomas, he met the visiting Danish painter Fritz Melbye, and he sailed with him to Venezuela. He created many sketches of life on the streets before returning to St Thomas in 1854. In 1855 he left home for the last time to go to Paris.
Studies and Associates in Paris
In 1855 in Paris, he studied with the French Realist landscape painter Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. His first painting was accepted for exhibition at the Salon in Paris in 1859. In the 1860s and 1870s, he associated with artists in and around Paris, such as Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, and Paul Gaugin. As a group, their style moved from Realism to Impressionism. In 1863 Pissarro’s Impressionistic paintings were rejected for exhibition at the Salon in Paris and were exhibited instead at the Salon de Refuses.
After London
He spent 1870 and 1871 in London to avoid the Franco-Prussian War. In the 1880s, Pissarro started experimenting with Neo-Impressionism, and after he had met George Seurat in 1885, he also experimented with Pointillism. In 1903 he died in Paris at the age of 73.
Painting Style – From Realism to Impressionism
At the beginning of his artistic career, Pissarro was influenced and inspired by the painter Corot and thus painted in a typical Realism style. The Pissarro landscape drawings of this time were in the Realism style. Over time, he became more Impressionistic orientated. During his Impressionist period, he concentrated on natural rural scenes, and he loved to capture moments of everyday peasant life. Many art historians consider the capturing of everyday peasant life as his favorite style.
Many art scholars believe that Pissarro’s interest in peasant life was because of his political beliefs, which were aligned with socialism and anarchism. Pissarro avoided scenes of middle-class parties and picnics that other Impressionists were inclined to paint. When he painted urban scenes, they tended to be viewed from a distance or above.
Pissarro also used free brushstrokes to make his Impressionist style more different from the formalism of previous movements. He also used a range of complimentary and contrasting colors to distinguish his painting style from previous artists’ work. Pissarro experimented with lighter and brighter color hues. With these lighter color hues in combination with his more casual compositions, he succeeded in capturing everyday moments.
Like most other Impressionists, he painted the same scene at different times of the day or even in different seasons to capture the different emotions conveyed by the same scene. He experimented, for example, with the quality of light during the day compared to the light quality in the evening.
To fully understand his style during his Impressionistic period, you must remember that his paintings’ composition also started to change. The composition of his paintings became less formal and more casual. He focused on the interaction of light, the atmosphere of the moment, and the qualities of different colors. He tried to capture reality through the expression of spontaneous color interplay and not by an exact replication of landscapes and other scenes. This was a great shift in his stylistic approach from Realism to Impressionism.
Painting Style – From Impressionism to Neo-Impressionism and Pointillism
But after a while, Pissarro started experimenting with Neo-Impressionism and Pointillism techniques. After he had met George Seurat, he started to experiment with Pointillism. Pissarro brought a spontaneous and improvisational dimension to his artwork by amplifying the use of small dabs of paint. According to Pissarro himself, he “left” the Impressionists because he didn’t want his style to become fixed.
As he aged, Pissarro developed a recurring eye infection which made painting outdoors difficult and, in certain weather, impossible. So he shifted to renting rooms on the upper floors of Paris buildings or hotels and painted the urban scenes visible from his window.
Example 1 of Pissarro’s work: “Jalais Hill, Pontoise”
This Pissarro landscape is a typical pastoral French landscape and depicts Jalais Hill, Pontoise. The artist Pissarro painted it in 1867 when his style changed from Realism to Impressionism. Two women coming around a bend in the road are typical village people from the village depicted in the background. Pissarro painted this artwork outside and did not make any changes later in the studio.
According to many art historians, this painting established Pissarro as an innovative rural landscape painter and is one of Camille Pissarro’s most famous paintings. When this artwork was shown at the Salon of 1868 in Paris, it was enthusiastically praised by the critic Emile Zola.
The Hill at Jallais, Pontoise, 1875 – Camille Pissarro
Example 2 of Pissarro’s work: “Afternoon Sunshine, Port Neuf”
Camille Pissarro’s most famous paintings include “Afternoon Sunshine, Port Neuf.” It was painted in 1901 as one of Pissarro’s last works. As Pissarro got older, he developed eyesight problems causing him to work indoors. However, it did not prevent him from painting outdoor scenes. This painting, for instance, was painted from his room on the Île de la Cité. In the painting, the French Impressionist artist Pissarro captured ordinary people commuting between the department stores and their residences. His quick brushwork immaculately captures the energy of the scene.
Conclusion
Throughout his 40-year career as a painter, Pissarro adopted different styles. In the beginning, he mainly worked in the style of Realism. In the 1870s, his paintings became typical Impressionistic, and in the 1890s, he adopted a Neo-Impressionist style. By the end of his career, he used many Impressionism techniques and ideas again.
