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Lot Essay
During January-April 1896 Pissarro rented two rooms at the Hôtel de Paris in Rouen. From here he painted the first group of views of Rouen which enjoyed great success at an exhibition at Durand-Ruel et Cie that summer. Encouraged by the favorable reception he received in Paris, Pissarro returned to Rouen later that year and again in 1898 in order to continue the Rouen series. As Richard Brettell and Joachim Pissaro have discussed:
The forty-seven views of Rouen far exceed the numbers in any other series. They are characterised by an intensity and rapidity of execution and a broad handling that single them out from the rest of the artist's serial works...the 1896 group can be regarded as Pissarro's first major urban series... The Rouen series is also the first to anchor its compositions in the theme of the River Seine--and its multiple pictorial, poetic and functional roles. (R. Brettell and J. Pissarro, op. cit., exh. cat., 3-4)
The forty-seven views of Rouen far exceed the numbers in any other series. They are characterised by an intensity and rapidity of execution and a broad handling that single them out from the rest of the artist's serial works...the 1896 group can be regarded as Pissarro's first major urban series... The Rouen series is also the first to anchor its compositions in the theme of the River Seine--and its multiple pictorial, poetic and functional roles. (R. Brettell and J. Pissarro, op. cit., exh. cat., 3-4)