Camille Pissarro

Camille Pissarro finally became a successful artist and by 1892, at the age of 62, enjoyed greater financial security. When collectors realised that it was worth buying a Pissarro, Georges Bernheim turned to the artist exclaiming: “Your moment has come!” The first major retrospective exhibition of Pissarro’s works was organised by Joseph Durand-Ruel in Paris, showing 46 pictures from the period 1870–1892, although few of the Neo-Impressionist paintings were put before the public. All the unsold pictures were bought by Durand-Ruel. In 1890 Pissarro received a share of only 164 francs from Durand-Ruel, but two years later — after the successful 1892 exhibition — the sum amounted to more than 23,000 francs.

From the page of Woman in a Green Headscarf

Pissarro, an anarchist by conviction, increasingly raised his voice against the judging system of the official Salon exhibitions and, with Monet and several other artists, organised an “Impressionist” exhibition. Pissarro formulated the Impressionists’ creed and was the only member of the group who took part with his pictures in all eight Impressionist exhibitions held between 1874 and 1886. From the beginning he was a defender of the movement.

From the page of The Boulevard Montmartre, Afternoon Sun

The turning point in the artist’s career was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 (pictured), which ended in France’s terrible and humiliating defeat. Pissarro fled the war to London with Monet, and there he fell in love with the landscapes of Turner and Constable, which he admired so much that his works bear witness to their influence. The influence of the two English painters shows in the loose, almost abstract brushstrokes the French artist later used. When Pissarro returned to Paris, he found that the Prussian troops had stolen or damaged almost all (some 200–300) of his pictures. Pissarro’s house had been turned into a slaughterhouse, and the floor had been covered with his pictures.

From the page of Haymaking at Éragny