Camille Pissarro, Boulevard des Italians, Morning, sunlight, 1897 by Atelier Liesjes

About "Camille Pissarro, Boulevard des Italians, Morning, sunlight, 1897"

by Atelier Liesjes

About the artwork

We look down on a wide, busy, tree-lined avenue full of buildings, people and horse-drawn carriages in this horizontal painting. Muted, warm browns, sage green, slate blue and brick red dominate the urban scene, loosely painted with short and long dotted brushstrokes, making some details difficult to discern. The street stretches diagonally from our bottom left corner with wide grey pavements on both sides, lined by slender trees sparsely dotted with brown leaves. Dozens of pedestrians meander the pavements individually, in pairs and in small groups in coats and hats. Opposite us, multi-storey buildings stretch across the width of the canvass with storefronts at street level. Rows of windows adorn the facades. Horse-drawn carriages travel in both directions on the street and two omnibuses have pulled up to the kerb closest to us, where passengers have lined up. Two brick-red, hexagonal kiosks face each other on either side of the street, about halfway down the boulevard. Sunlight filters onto the scene, creating a mottled effect in places, especially on our right. The artist signed and dated the painting in dark green in the lower right corner: "C.Pissarro.97."

Camille Pissarro, born Jacob Abraham Pizarro (Charlotte Amalie, 10 July 1830 - Paris, 12 November 1903) was a French Impressionist painter. Pissarro was always looking for new forms, becoming one of the most innovative among Impressionists.