Van Gogh •
Artist Biographies
•
Camille Pissarro
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Camille Pissarro |
| Birth Year : |
1830 |
| Death Year : |
1903 |
| Country : |
France |
Learn more about Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was born on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and did not arrive in Paris until he was twenty-five. He studied
first at the Beaux-Arts and then with
Corot, whom he greatly
admired and whose style influenced his earliest works. Pissarro became interested in
Courbet
Courbet, who was more sympathetic to the younger artists than
was Corot. Some of
Courbet's vigorous realism may be found in Pissarro's
works of about 1863. A painter of nature, Pissarro was happy only in the country, and he settled in Louveciennes with his
family in 1866. Here he met and worked with
Cezanne and remained until 1871,
then with
Monet he fled to England to escape the German invasion. It was during this visit that Daubigny introduced Pissarro
to Paul Durand-Ruel, who became his art dealer and the man whose name is inseparably linked with the presentation of the
Impressionists to the world. Upon his return to France, Pissarro (who had sold little and was to remain financially
unsuccessful throughout most of his life), found his house sacked and more than a thousand canvases destroyed by
indifferent soldiers. Undeterred in his desire to paint, he moved to Pontoise,
where
Cezanne joined him (1872-74) and where he later worked
with
Gauguin. Neither of these two masters ever forgot him and
acknowledged their debt to his brilliant instruction until the end of their lives. Pissarro's first completely
Impressionist period, between 1870 and 1880, is characterized by a palette much lighter than his original one,
by a small comma-shaped brushstroke; and by a shimmering golden or silvery light that bathes the soft colors of
his landscapes. Not quite satisfied with this own work, Pissarro experimented
with
Seurat's Pointillism between 1886 and 1890 but abandoned this
technique when he found his work becoming lifeless. Strengthened by this experimentation, from 1890 until his death,
Pissarro produced perfectly drawn and composed paintings that were rich in color, solid in volume, and subtle in
harmonies. The most classical and humanistic of the Impressionists, Pissarro was extremely important not only for
his own quietly serene art but for stimulating
Cezanne's search for
solidity, for contributing to
Gauguin's early training, and for his
advice and counsel to the other younger members of the Impressionist group.
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