1343 - Camille Pissarro (1830 Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands – 1903 Paris)

Camille Pissarro (1830 Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands – 1903 Paris) Peasant Woman A study of a peasant woman working in the fields, composed with bold, swift contour lines. Pissarro, who is considered one of the most important representatives of French Impressionism and was a close confidant and companion of artistic giants such as Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Alfred Sisley, nevertheless struggled with financial difficulties throughout his life, which forced him to give up his Paris studio and move to the countryside, where he lived in seclusion with his extended family. Nevertheless, he regularly attended artists’ gatherings at the Café de la Nouvelle-Athènes in Paris, while also using his quieter moments to explore anarchist and liberalist ideas. This is evident in his rural motifs, in which he—unlike almost any other Impressionist—paints a clear and unemotional picture of the working peasant population. Charcoal on gray-blue paper. Monogram stamp in black in the lower right (Lugt 613e). 21.6 cm x 15.2 cm. Framed. Provenance: The artist’s estate; German private collection, reportedly acquired in France in the late 1950s, and in the family’s possession by inheritance ever since. Charcoal on gray-blue paper. Monogram stamp in black (Lugt 613e).