Camille Pissarro believed in independent group exhibitions and almost always exhibited paintings depicting landscapes under specific light and weather conditions. These beliefs and commitment to exhibit made him the typical example of an Impressionist artist. Many art historians agree that without the French Impressionist artist Pissarro, there would have been no Impressionist movement. Art scholars have rightfully named him the Father of Impressionism.
But Pissarro was not always fully recognized during his lifetime as the originator of a new whole movement in art history. By the end of his life, he started to gain recognition and praise. Fortunately, his recognition as a painter and the great influence behind Impressionism and Post-Impressionism continued throughout the 20th century. And up to today, he is still regarded as the father of the movement.
In this article, we’ll briefly look at some aspects of Pissarro’s life and work and determine his influence on other painters.
All about Painter Pissarro – Where everything started
Although we’ll only briefly describe the early years of French Impressionist artist Pissarro artistic career, it will give us enough background information to look at one or two of his typical paintings and discuss his influence on other artists.
Camille Pissarro was a Danish-French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painter who contributed to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism movements. He was born in St Thomas, where his family lived above their shop on the main street of St. Thomas. His parents enrolled him in a school in Paris when he was 12 years old. He showed an early talent for drawing and started visiting the Louver collections.
When he was 17, he returned to St. Thomas but didn’t enter the family business. Instead, he met the visiting Danish painter Fritz Melbye and sailed with him to Venezuela. There 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.
In Paris, he attended classes and met other artists such as Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The painter Corot influenced him to paint from nature, and the Pissarro landscape drawings and paintings were “born.” During this time, Pissarro became more and more opposed to the standards of the Academy. He also began to understand the importance of expressing the beauties of nature without adulteration. After a year in Paris, he started to paint scenes in the countryside to capture the daily life in a village.
Pontoise, the Road to Gisors in Winter – Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro’s most famous Painting
It is difficult to name one specific Pissarro painting as the most famous painting. However, there are three of his paintings that art historians often refer to as three of Pissarro’s “most famous” paintings. The three paintings they are referring to are first “Jalais Hill, Pontoise,” which is regarded as the painting which established him as a landscape artist. The second painting, “The Crystal Palace,” is one of his paintings illustrating his political view that “the palace” and the people in an “ordinary village” can exist next to each other. And the third painting, “Afternoon Sunshine, Port Neuf,” is one of his last paintings when he couldn’t paint outdoors anymore but still painted outdoor scenes.
In the painting “Jalais Hill, Pontoise” (1867), Pissarro depicted a French pastoral landscape, Jalais Hill, Pontoise. According to many art historians, this painting established Pissarro as an innovative rural landscape painter. 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.
During the Franco-Prussian war, Pissarro and his family moved to the outskirts of London, and while he was there, he painted as much as he could of the scenery and architecture. One such painting is “The Crystal Palace” (1871). What is important about this artwork is that although the name is “Crystal Palace,” the focus is also on the “ordinary” people walking down the street with their families and the homes on the right.
“Afternoon Sunshine, Port Neuf” (1901) is one of his last works. As Pissarro got older, he developed eyesight problems. Although the eye problem caused him to work indoors, it did not prevent him from painting outdoor scenes. This painting is an example of this. It was painted from his room on the Île de la Cité. He captured ordinary individuals traveling between the department stores and their residences. His swift brushwork captured the energy of the scene.
The Boulevard Montmartre at Night, 1897 – Camille Pissarro
Influence by the Painter Pissarro on other Artists
Pissarro was a bridge between the 19th and 20th centuries – not only in his life but also as an artist. With his ongoing interest in change, his influence on the artwork of artists such as Cézanne and Gauguin, and his constant opposition to the artistic establishment, he was instrumental in shaping early 20th-century avant-garde.
In 1873 he was instrumental in the establishment of a society of fifteen artists, and he was the person who always encouraged the other members to continue with the styles they were developing. In addition, Pissarro was always available when other artists wanted to consult someone on new painting techniques and subjects. His positive influence on this group of young Impressionist artists is one of the main reasons he was called by an art historian “the Dean of the Impressionist painters.”
Even though art critics and lovers of the time rejected Impressionism because, according to them, Impressionist artists couldn’t draw and used “vulgar” colors, Pissarro kept on painting in his style. Many art historians agree that without Camille Pissarro, there would have been no Impressionist movement. Pissarro exhibited his work at all eight Paris Impressionist exhibitions held from 1874 to 1886.
But as mentioned earlier in this article, Pissarro was also the bridge between the 19th and 20th centuries and thus also the bridge between Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. He was later also the father figure to all four significant Post-Impressionists, namely Cézanne, Seurat, Gauguin, and van Gogh.
Camille Pissarro had a great influence on Paul Cezanne’s work. Although they worked together, each artist adapted his style in different ways. But they were continually adopting some aspects of the other’s work. By copying Pissarro’s landscapes and studying Pissarro’s techniques, Cézanne’s palette became gradually lighter.
Conclusion
The artist Pissarro was not only one of the best landscape painters ever, but he was also the forerunner and driving force of the Impressionistic as well as the Post-Impressionistic art movements. He influenced artists in the Impressionistic and Post-Impressionistic eras. You can search the list of Camille Pissarro’s most famous paintings online to learn more about this brilliant artist’s paintings.
