Pissarro: The Marne at Chennevières

Art Appreciation Lecture Series 2015
Meet the Masters: Highlights from the Scottish National Gallery
Pissarro: The Marne at Chennevières
Michelle Hiscock
09/10 September 2015
Lecture summary:
In 1863 Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) embarked on a series of ambitious paintings in the region of
La Varenne-St-Hilaire, on the Marne River, about 25 km southeast of Paris. He was determined to
make his mark at the Paris Salon. The Jurors, undoubtedly through the advocacy of Daubigny,
accepted at least four paintings executed here. The Marne at Chennevières (1864) draws
inspiration for its composition from Daubigny’s river scenes but incorporates a manner of execution
borrowed from Courbet.
By 1866 Pissarro had moved out of Paris to Pontoise and begun the next chapter in a life-long
dedication to plein-air painting. It was here that he became a mentor to Cézanne, resulting in one
of the greatest artistic dialogues of the modern era. Like Monet, Pissarro’s art grew directly from
his place of residence and its surrounds. Eragny-sur-Epte, which remained his family’s base from
1884 for the rest of his life, was an ideal haven of rural tranquility. His luminous canvases
celebrated every nuance of colouring and effect of weather and light. Even when ill-health dictated
he spend the greater part of his time indoors he found new inspiration, capturing the flux of modern
urban life from hotel or apartment windows in Paris, Le Havre, Dieppe and Rouen.
Slide list (all works by Pissarro unless otherwise specified):
Landscape with Bananas and Palm Trees, 1856, oil on canvas, 24.1 x 23.7 cm, Gallería de Arté Nacional,
Caracas
Antillian Landscape, Saint Thomas, 1856, oil on canvas, Private collection
A Creek in St. Thomas (Virgin Islands), 1856, oil on academy board, 24.5 x 32.2 cm, National Gallery of Art
Washington
Dans les bois, 1859, oil on canvas, Private collection
Dans les bois, 1864, oil on canvas, Private collection
La Varenne de St Hilaire, view from Champigny c.1863, oil on canvas, 49.6 x 74 cm, Museum of Fine Arts
Budapest
The Marne at Chennevières, 1864, oil on canvas, 91.5 x 145.5 cm, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
The Marne at La Varenne-St-Hilaire, 1864, oil on canvas, 24 x 32 cm, Kunstmuseum, Bern
Bac à Varenne-St-Hilaire, 1864, oil on canvas, 27 x 41 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
The Banks of the Marne, 1864, oil on canvas, 81.9 x 107.9 cm, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
Study for The Banks of the Marne, 1864, oil on canvas, 24.4 x 32.4 cm, The Fitzwilliam Museum
Barges on the Seine, 1863, oil on canvas, 46 x 72 cm, Musée Camille Pissarro, Pontoise
Jallais Hill Pontoise, 1867, oil on canvas, 87 x 114.9 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Banks of the Marne in Winter, 1866, oil on canvas, 91.8 x 150.2 cm, Art Institute Chicago
The House of Père Gallien, Pontoise, 1866, oil on canvas, 40 x 55cm, Ipswich Council Museum
Vue sur la côte saint-Denis, Pontoise, 1867, oil on canvas, 46 x 55cm, Private Collection
View of l’Hermitage, Pontoise, 1867, oil on canvas, Wallaf-Richartz-Museum
The Gardens of l’Hermitage, Pontoise, 1867, oil on canvas, National Gallery, Prague
Proudly sponsored by
View of l’Hermitage, Jallais Hills, Pontoise, 1867, oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cm, Fondation Rau pour le TiersMonde, Switzerland
The Hermitage at Pontoise, 1867, oil on canvas, 151.4 x 200.6 cm, Guggenheim Museum, New York
Rue de Gisors, 1868, oil on canvas, Ôsterreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
Route de Versailles, Louveciennes, 1869, oil on canvas, 38.4 x 46.3 cm, The Walters Museum, Baltimore
View from Louveciennes, 1869-1870, oil on canvas, 52.7 x 81.9 cm, National Gallery of London
Snow at Louveciennes, c. 1870, oil on canvas, 32.3 x 47.5 cm, Art Institute Chicago
The Crystal Palace, 1871, oil on canvas, 47.2 x 73.5 cm, Art Institute of Chicago
Fox Hill, Upper Norwood, 1870, Oil on Canvas, 35.3 x 45.7 cm, National Gallery, London
Snowy Landscape at South Norwood, 1871, oil on canvas, 44.9 x 55.6 cm, Los Angeles County Museum
Dulwich College, London, 1871, oil on canvas, 50.1 x 60 cm, McCaulely collection, Winnipeg
Near Sydenham Hill, 1871, oil on canvas, 43.5 x 53.5 cm, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth Texas
Rue de Voisins, 1871. Oil on canvas, 46 x 55.5 cm Manchester City Galleries, Manchester
La Rue de Gisors à Pontoise, effet de neige, 1873, oil on canvas, 59 x 73 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Le Petit pont, Pontoise, 1875, oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm, Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Germany
Paul Cézanne, Le Pont de Maincy, près de Melun, c.1879, oil on canvas, 58.5 x 72.5 cm. Musée d'Orsay,
Paris
La maison Ronest sous la neige, Pontoise, c.1875. Oil on canvas, 36.4 x 39 cm, Private collection
Paul Cézanne, Maison et arbre, quartier de l'Hermitage, Pontoise, c.1874, oil on canvas, 66 x 55.5 cm,
Private collection
Potager, arbres en fleurs, printemps, Pontoise, 1877, oil on canvas, 65.5 x 81 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Paul Cézanne, Le Jardin de Maubuisson, Pontoise, 1877, oil on canvas, 50.2 x 60 cm, Mr. and Mrs. Jay
Pack Collection, Dallas, Texas
Les Toits Rouges, côte saint-Denis à Pontoise, effet d'hiver, 1877, oil on canvas, 54 x 65 cm, Musée
d'Orsay, Paris
Paul Cézanne, La Côte des Boeufs, Pontoise, oil on canvas,
La Côte des Boeufs, Pontoise, oil on canvas, 114 x 87 cm, National Gallery, London
Les Côteaux de Thierceville vues de la cavée environ d’Eragny, 1884, oil on canvas, 53.9 x 65.1 cm, private
collection
The House of the Deaf Woman and the Belfry at Eragny, 1886, oil on canvas, 65.1 x 81 cm, Indianapolis
Museum of Art
Peasant’s Houses, Eragny, 1887, oil on canvas, 59 x 81.7cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Apple Picking at Eragny-sur-Epte, 1888, oil on canvas, 61 x 74 cm, Dallas Museum of Art
Haymaking at Eragny,1892, oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago
Le Boulevard Montmartre, Matinée de Printemps, 1897, oil on canvas, 65 x 81 cm, private collection
Boulevard Montmartre, matin temps gris, 1897, oil on canvas, 92 x 73 cm, National Gallery of Victoria,
Melbourne
The Gardens of the Tuileries on a Spring Morning, 1899, oil on canvas, 73.3 x 92.1 cm, Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York
The Gardens of the Tuileries on a Winter Afternoon, 1899, oil on canvas, 73.3 x 92.4 cm, The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York
Reference:
Cézanne et Pissarro: 1865–1885, Exhibition catalogue, Musée d’Orsay, Paris 2006
Camille Pissarro, Exhibition catalogue, Terrence Maloon et al., Art Gallery of New South Wales,
Sydney, 2005
The Private Lives of the Impressionists, Sue Roe, Vintage, Random House, London, 2007
The Chronicle of Impressionism, Bernard Denvir, Thames and Hudson, London, 2000
The Art of Impressionism: Painting technique and the making of modernity, Anthea Callen, Yale
University Press, 2000
The Impressionists at First Hand, Edited by Bernard Denvir, World of Art, Thames and Hudson,
London, 1987
The History of Impressionism, John Rewald, Secker and Warburg, London, 1985
The Impressionists: A Retrospective, Edited by Martha Kapos, Hugh Lauter Levin, London, 1991
For access to all past lecture notes visit:
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/members/current-members/member-events/meet-the-masters/