Even Piette's Place du Petit Martroy, Pointoise, market day (1876), a painting which was shown at the Impressionist exhibit in 1877, doesn't truly engage in true market life. Indeed, there is again a large distance between the viewer and the peasants. Although these peasants aren't, like those portrayed in Trayer's The Fabric Market, dressed in exaggeratedly provincial clothing, they are only far-off figures which the viewer clearly can't engage or identify with. Thus, unlike Pissarro, both these paintings offer a view of the peasants which is either an idealized one (as is the case for Trayer's The Fabric Market) or an apathetic, removed one (as is the case for Piette's market scene).

For Pissarro, the movement of Impressionism was already past its time in 1883, less than ten years after the first Impressionist exhibit of 1874: "Impressionism was in reality nothing other than a theory of perception, without forgetting fantasy, freedom and greatness - in a word, all the things that make art great." (qtd Becker, 102). The newer movement, one favored by younger artists, was Pointillism: what Becker calls a "way of painting using spots of unmixed colors, which were dotted individually over the almost which ground, creating the impression of a shimmering pictorial surface." (Becker, 102) Thus, rather than attempting to capture a brief "sensation", an ephemeral "impression", proponents of Pointillism favored a physiological and psychological interpretation of perception, where the latter became a complex process between the picture and the viewer.

Pissarro was clearly attracted to this movement. In early 1885, he met Georges Seurat, the driving force behind the new movement, and was immediately taken by the latter's compositions. In a letter to Durand-Ruel in late 1886, Pissarro describes his new aim: "To seek a modern synthesis of methods based on science, that in turn is based on M.E. Chevreul's theory of color...To substitute optical mixture for a mixture of pigments. In other words: the breaking up of tones into their constituents. For optical mixture stirs up more intense luminosities than does mixture of pigments." (qtd Becker, 102). Subsequently, between 1888 and 1890, Pissarro produced a group of pictures showing women working in the fields, in which he employed the new Pointillist technique. An example of this is the fan-design Peasants Planting Pea-sticks (1890), which was then used to create an oil painting of the same name (1891).

Although Pissarro never became one of the leaders of the Pointillist movement, he made a significant contribution to it. He even became so caught up in it that he seems to have quite lost his free, natural style â€" his sensation libre â€" which the French naturalist author Emile Zola had so admired, in favor of the cold and calculated method of the point. View from my Window, Eragny (1888), clearly reflects this change. The painting is quite mathematical: the colors are systematically divided, and the foreground with the almost rectangular red roof and the landscape divided into practically equal-depth bands give the impression that the painting is composed of a combination of countless dots of color and short, parallel lines.
Thus, Pissarro evidently seems to have foregone, for a while, his love for the free nature of sensation libre, of true Impressionism, in order to achieve purity of tone.

Ultimately, however, Pissarro never truly embraced Pointillism. He was perfectly conscious of its faults, stating in a letter to his son Lucien on 6 September 1888: "I think continually of some way of painting without the dot. I hope to achieve this but I have not been able to solve the problem of dividing the pure tone without harness…How can one combine the purity and simplicity of the dot with the fullness, suppleness, liberty, spontaneity and freshness of sensation postulated by our impressionist art? This is the question which preoccupies me, for the dot is meager, lacking in body, diaphanous, more monotonous than simple, even the Seurats, particularly in the Seurats…" (qtd Becker, 104). Pissarro subsequently returned to his previous Impressionist technique. Thus, Pissarro's brief move away from Impressionism and towards Pointillism, away from free sensation and towards a more scientific method of painting, was not much more than an experiment, a brief flirt; indeed, quite literally, a brush with the unknown.

Rouen, November 20, 1883

My dear Lucien,
[...]Remember that I have the temperament of a peasant, I am melancholy, harsh and savage in my works, it is only in the long run that I can expect to please, and then only those who have a grain of indulgence; but the eye of the passerby is too hasty and sees only the surface. Whoever is in a hurry will not stop for me.

On the bourgeoisie...

Osny, December 28, 1883

My dear Lucien,
[...]There is not more time for amusements, you are right, education is what is necessary. See, then, how stupid the bourgeoisie, the real bourgeoisie have become, step by step they go lower and lower, in a word they are losing all notion of beauty, they are mistaken about everything. Where there is something to admire they shout it down, they disapprove! Where there are stupid sentimentalities from which you want to turn with disgust, they jump with joy or swoon.-Everything they have admired for the last fifty years is now forgotten, old-fashioned, ridiculous.[...] They are like the falling, rolling rock which we must ceaselessly roll back in order to escape being crushed.

On Clemenceau...

("Clemenceau, a socialist deputy from Montmartre, had just delivered a speech in the Chamber of Deputies in "defense of the Republic against the old regime, advocating the emancipation of the worker, which would lead to his education and development, supply him with tools for work, and give him in his turn a place in the sun." - Rewald, 36)

Osny, July 5, 1883

My dear Lucien,
[...] In your last letter you asked me to inform you abou the views of Clemenceau, and thus clear up a discussion you had. My dear boy, it is naive to bet on any man in the Chamber, if you have ever done that. - You were both right. This would seem to be a joke, but no, it is the plain fact. - You were right in a way since Clemenceau did indeed come before the elctorate with a very advanced, even a socialist program, but this does not make Alfred wrong in characterizing Clemenceau as a Jacobin, a "deep-dyed" - to qutoe Le Figaro - radical, but nevertheless no socialist. That is to say he is a politician who wants to come to power on the basis of a progressive program . Don't trust even his radicalism, he is a sort of Gladstone,-he isn't worth much. Moreover, if you read the article "Revision" in the copy of Le Proletaire which I am sending you, you will see what we think of him and of all the celebrated republicans who promised so much; but don't worry, they give little.
[...]

On politics in general...

Paris, July, 1883

My dear Lucien,
[...]
Unhappily the political future is not rosy, as you can see for youself. From England you are able to see the totality of facts in a better perspective. Clearly it is not the socialists who are dominating events, but the Orleanists and Bonapartists with their usual intrigues - and hence, the capitalists. [...] I think that these developments will favor the republicans, let us hope so in any case. In the meantime artist will have to endure these circumstances.

On Louise Michel...

("Louise Michel, a famous revolutionary, sentenced to lifelong exile in New Caledonia after the Commune, pardoned in 1880, had just been arraigned for having incited unemployed workers to pillage. In court she declared: "I live only for the revolution. I will always work for it. It is the revolution I salute." " - Rewald, 39)

Osny, July 25, 1883

My dear Lucien,
[...]Please read the defense of Louise Michel. It is really remarkable. This woman is extraordinary. She renders ridicule harmless by the force of her feeling and humanity.

On the commercialization of art...

Rouen, October 22, 1883

My dear Lucien,
[...]Ideas stemming from impotence, for an artist should have only his ideal in mind.-He lives poorly, yes, but in his misery one hope sustains him, the hope of finding someone who can understand him; in three of four cases he finds his man.-I know perfectly well that tricksters, tricksters with real energy, heap up fortunes, but either they pass by like clouds, or they know they are inferior, and feel degraded. Of course this is a question of temperament.-Anyhow, M.told me before he left that he would try color division, soft tones, etc., but he would add "beautiful" motifs. We have all heard that before, it makes me think of V., they are all the same, they want to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.

A reflection of his anarchism

On his similarity to peasants...

Rouen, November 20, 1883
My dear Lucien,
[...]Remember that I have the temperament of a peasant, I am melancholy, harsh and savage in my works, it is only in the long run that I can expect to please, and then only those who have a grain of indulgence; but the eye of the passerby is too hasty and sees only the surface. Whoever is in a hurry will not stop for me.

On the bourgeoisie...

Osny, December 28, 1883
My dear Lucien,
[...]There is not more time for amusements, you are right, education is what is necessary. See, then, how stupid the bourgeoisie, the real bourgeoisie have become, step by step they go lower and lower, in a word they are losing all notion of beauty, they are mistaken about everything. Where there is something to admire they shout it down, they disapprove! Where there are stupid sentimentalities from which you want to turn with disgust, they jump with joy or swoon.-Everything they have admired for the last fifty years is now forgotten, old-fashioned, ridiculous.[...] They are like the falling, rolling rock which we must ceaselessly roll back in order to escape being crushed.

On politics in general...

Paris, July, 1883
My dear Lucien,
[...]
Unhappily the political future is not rosy, as you can see for youself. From England you are able to see the totality of facts in a better perspective. Clearly it is not the socialists who are dominating events, but the Orleanists and Bonapartists with their usual intrigues - and hence, the capitalists. [...] I think that these developments will favor the republicans, let us hope so in any case. In the meantime artists will have to endure these circumstances.

On Louise Michel...

("Louise Michel, a famous revolutionary, sentenced to lifelong exile in New Caledonia after the Commune, pardoned in 1880, had just been arraigned for having incited unemployed workers to pillage. In court she declared: "I live only for the revolution. I will always work for it. It is the revolution I salute." " - Rewald, 39)

Osny, July 25, 1883
My dear Lucien,
[...]Please read the defense of Louise Michel. It is really remarkable. This woman is extraordinary. She renders ridicule harmless by the force of her feeling and humanity.

On Clemenceau...

("Clemenceau, a socialist deputy from Montmartre, had just delivered a speech in the Chamber of Deputies in "defense of the Republic against the old regime, advocating the emancipation of the worker, which would lead to his education and development, supply him with tools for work, and give him in his turn a place in the sun." - Rewald, 36)

Osny, July 5, 1883
My dear Lucien,
[...] In your last letter you asked me to inform you abou the views of Clemenceau, and thus clear up a discussion you had. My dear boy, it is naive to bet on any man in the Chamber, if you have ever done that. - You were both right. This would seem to be a joke, but no, it is the plain fact. - You were right in a way since Clemenceau did indeed come before the elctorate with a very advanced, even a socialist program, but this does not make Alfred wrong in characterizing Clemenceau as a Jacobin, a "deep-dyed" - to qutoe Le Figaro - radical, but nevertheless no socialist. That is to say he is a politician who wants to come to power on the basis of a progressive program . Don't trust even his radicalism, he is a sort of Gladstone,-he isn't worth much. Moreover, if you read the article "Revision" in the copy of Le Proletaire which I am sending you, you will see what we think of him and of all the celebrated republicans who promised so much; but don't worry, they give little.
[...]

On the commercialization of art...

Rouen, October 22, 1883
My dear Lucien,
[...]Ideas stemming from impotence, for an artist should have only his ideal in mind.-He lives poorly, yes, but in his misery one hope sustains him, the hope of finding someone who can understand him; in three of four cases he finds hi man.-I know perfectly well that tricksters, tricksters with real energy, heap up fortunes, but either they pass by like clouds, or they know they are inferior, and feel degraded. Of course this is a question of temperament.-Anyhow, M.told me before he left that he would try color division, soft tones, etc., but he would add "beautiful" motifs. We have all heard that before, it makes me think of V., they are all the same, they want to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.

Paint the essential character of things.

I regard it as a waste of time to think only of selling: one forgets one's art and exaggerates one's value.

When you do a thing with your whole soul and everything that is noble within you, you always find your counterpart.

Don't be afraid in nature: one must be bold, at the risk of having been deceived and making mistakes.

It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character.

Work at the same time on sky, water, branches, ground, keeping everything going on an equal basis... Don't be afraid of putting on colour... Paint generously and unhesitatingly, for it is best not to lose the first impression.

Everything is beautiful, all that matters is to be able to interpret.

All the sorrows, all the bitternesses, all the sadnesses, I forget them and ignore them in the joy of working.

Observe that it is a great error to believe that all mediums of art are not closely tied to their time.

Cover the canvas at the first go, then work at it until you see nothing more to add.

It is the brushwork of the right value and color which should produce the drawing.

God takes care of imbeciles, little children and artists.

I sometimes have a horrible fear of turning up a canvas of mine. I'm always afraid of finding a monster in place of the precious jewels I thought I had put there!

Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.

Pissarro Art

Pissarro, Camille. "Sheet of studies of watercarriers", 1852.

Pissarro, Camille. "The Market in Gisors" Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Pissarro, Camille. "The Poultry Market". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Pissarro, Camille. "Study of a Market". Private collection, England

Pissarro, Camille. "Study of a seated woman". Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass.

Pissarro, Camille. "The Pork Butcher". Tate Gallery, London.

Pissarro, Camille. By Richard Thomson "X-ray of upper section of The Pork Butcher", 1883. Camille Pissarro: Impressionism, Landscape and Rural Labour", New York: The Herbert Press Limited, 1990.

Pissarro, Camille. "Study for The Pork Butcher", Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Pissarro, Camille. "The Market Stall". Burrell Collection, Glasgow.

Pissarro, Camille. "A Corner of Les Halles". Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass.

Pissarro, Camille. "The St Honoré Market". Private Collection.

Other Art

Degas, Edgar. "Woman Ironing". National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

Other works cited

Lloyd, Christopher. The Market Scenes of Camille Pissarro, from the Art Bulletin of Victoria 25, 1985. 17-32.

Shikes, Ralph. "Pissarro's political philosophy and his art", from Studies on Camille Pissarro, edited by Christopher Lloyd. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986. 35-54.

Becker, Cristoph. Camille Pissarro. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 1999.

Lloyd, Christopher. Camille Pissarro. Geneva: Editions d'Art Albert Skira S.A. 1981.

Pissarro, Joachim. Camille Pissarro. New York: Harry N Abrams, 1993.

Shikes, Ralph, and Harper, Paula. Pissarro: his life and work. New York: Horizon Press, 1980.

Thomson, Richard. Camille Pissarro: Impressionism, Landscape and Rural Labour". New York: The Herbert Press Limited, 1990.

Eleni has been attracted to Impressionism since she can remember. Really. She has unabashedly given in to the commercialization of Impressionist art, and is the proud owner of several Impressionist calendars, Monet fridge magnets, and above all, a "disappEARing" Van Gogh mug (as you can judge for yourself). She became interested in Pissarro's marketplaces and his anarchism after strolling through the charmingly meandering back alleys of Montpellier on a refreshing spring Saturday morning â€" the jour du marché â€" dressed in black pants, a black turtleneck and, to top it all off, naturally, a black beret. Well, either that or after flicking through a book on Impressionism in Marquand library in Princeton. You decide.

For example, in The Pork Butcher, the woman cutting the meat in the center is evidently the focus of the painting: she is closest to the viewer, and takes up a far larger portion of the work than do the other figures. Also, the colors of her clothes, particularly the white apron â€" coupled with the darkness of the other characters' clothing â€" again place the emphasis on her. The staging of the work, in other words the way in which the peasant woman at the center of the painting is framed by two other women (one at her right and one at her left), and also the busy nature of the background reinforce the focus on her, the female peasant. Pissarro doesn't even deem it necessary to include any bourgeois figures. Thus, in this painting, all elements seem to converge to produce one final effect: a focus on the peasants.

In The Poultry Market, Pissarro goes one step beyond: not only does he provide a clear focus on the female peasants, by placing several female peasant figures in the foreground of the painting and having them take up a large proportion of the work, but he includes some bourgeois figures. He places the latter figures in the background, thereby creating a distance between them and the viewer of the painting; this is clearly a political statement about what he wishes the viewer to feel, a reflection of his own anarchist views.

Pissarro's The Market Stall goes even further, by not only providing a focus on the female peasants and by including a social commentary on the bourgeois as in The Poultry Market, but also by essentially placing the spectator in the peasant's shoes. As Thomson correctly states, we "literally side with the stallholders" (Thomson, 73): we see the peasant woman, who is again placed in the center and foreground of the painting, from the back, and the bourgeois ladies she is serving from the front. Thus, the scene is set up in a way which expresses Pissarro's wish for us, the viewers, to experience the market stall for ourselves â€" as if we were the peasant woman, attempting to satisfy the demands of the condescending bourgeoisie. Even in Pissarro's very few depictions of the larger city markets such as those of Paris, for example The St Honoré Market and A Corner of Les Halles, we again side with the peasants, the produce separating us from the bourgeoisie. In A Corner of Les Halles, this separation is even more blatant than in The St Honoré Market, since we see the peasants completely from behind rather than from the side, and the bourgeois women completely from the front rather than, again, from the side; this marks an even stronger contrast between the two.
On a side note, the scarcity of the city market paintings can be interpreted as an expression of Pissarro's preference for the country rather than the city; this, again, would reflect his anarchist views. Thus, in these paintings, Pissarro's desire for a focus on the peasants and a distancing from the bourgeoisie, by placing us in the female peasants' shoes opposite the bourgeois women, clearly comes through.

Pissarro even re-painted part of the image: as the art historian Richard Thomson states in his chapter The Image of the Market: Exchange between Country and Town, x-rays "reveal that originally the right-hand figure was painted looking at the wares on display" (Thomson, 69). This is indeed visible in X-ray of upper section of The Pork Butcher.

The Poultry Market was similarly extremely planned and thus devoid of "free feeling": as states another art historian, Christopher Lloyd, in his article "The Market Scenes of Camille Pissarro", the painting was, in fact, "an amalgamation of two separate market scenes" since "the left half was clearly conceived as an independent work" (Lloyd, 19); this is, indeed, visible in the painting.


Also, Pissarro again did several studies for this painting, including Study of a Market and Study of a seated woman. All of these elements point to Pissarro's very careful and deliberate planning out of his marketplace scenes â€" and thus, his stepping away from sensation libre, free sensation, in these paintings.

Pissarro was very much one of these men. From the incipient stages of his artistic career, Pissarro's sympathy had always extended to the more humble members of society. In St Thomas, where he was born in 1830, and in Venezuela, he painted many figure drawings of agricultural workers: the poorer menial workers, for example the mestizos (the Indians and Blacks) of Venezuela. (Shikes, 35) As is visible in his Sheet of studies of watercarriers dating from 1852, he drew many sketches of these workers performing everyday tasks, such as washing clothes and carrying water jugs. These drawings indeed, as states Shikes, "reflected a fundamental sympathy with those whose lives were controlled by those who sat for his portraits" (35); in other words, even in his early youth, Pissarro truly empathized with the poorer members of society. Later, when he left St Thomas and Venezuela for Paris, he was very much struck by the similarly polarized French society, one end of which lived a life of complete luxury and extravagance, and the other a life of misery and subordination. P. J. Proudhon, one of the leading advocates of anarchism in the France of the 1850s and 1860s, who wrote in his book La Justice that agriculture was predominant since it offered independence and freedom to all those who pursued it, proved to be a huge influence on Pissarro. Indeed, Pissarro read, discussed and praised much of Proudhon's work, writing to his son Lucien how "Proudon, in La Justice, says that the Love of the earth is linked to the Revolution, and consequently to the artistic ideal." (qtd Shikes, 36). In other letters, he even "indicated that Proudhon was his political guide" (Shikes, 40). Thus, from his very youth, Pissarro committed himself to the anarchist philosophy, a commitment he would uphold throughout his entire life. He never ceased to express what Shikes and Harper, another art historian, call in their essay entitled "Pissarro's Anarchism" his "passionate hatred of injustice and of the society in which he lived, his "deep sympathy for those whom he regarded as the victims of that society", and his "vague dream of a world he believed would eventually materialize out of the destructive chaos that surrounded him" (Shikes & Harper, 230). In other words, Pissarro truly was an egalitarian and a social optimist who believed in the betterment of mankind through a peaceful and harmonious agrarian society, without any need for a government or social classes. All that was necessary, to him, was a society of peasants living in peaceful harmony.