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Lot Essay
Le dgel, Eragny is one of the few vertical compositions belonging to Pissarro's celebrated Eragny series in which the artist explored nature as it presented itself throughout the passage of time, the succession of seasons and their consequential transformations of nature.
The full Impressionist palette in the present picture has been used so as to extract the maximum colour from the frozen landscape. Early morning colours characterise the painting with strong browns and purples indicating what little shadow of the day has to offer. The view depicted here is one of the least typical of the Eragny period. Pissarro, usually favoured looking out from his upper floor studio across the river towards Bazincourt, but in all probability the fog lying heavily on the landscape obscured his view and he turned instead to the shorter perspective across his own farmyard towards the trees half obscured in the midst. Pissarro's masterpiece Matin, effet de soleil, hiver Eragny (fig. 1) reflects a similarity of subject, palette and composition endorsing Pissarro's direct observation of nature, and his fascination with an acute recording of light and climatic conditions.
Throughout his career Pissarro painted just over one hundred snow scenes indicating his particular enthralment with winter landscapes. In his correspondence to Lucien, Pissarro writes: "Il a fait un bien beau temps ces jours-ci... froid sec, gele blanche et soleil radieux... aussi j'ai commenc une srie d'tudes de ma fentre..." (Letter 26 December 1891, Correspondance de Camille Pissarro, vol. III, Paris, 1988, p. 174). Indeed, for Pissarro nature was at its most inspiring and colourful during the coldest time of the year. "Nous avons en ce moment la campagne couverte de neige, tous les trois nous sommes mis aux fentres pour faire l'unique et beau motif de Bazincourt; cela change tellement, ce n'est jamais pareil, j'en ai fait une vingtaine" (Letter 9 December 1892, ibid., p. 284).
Pissarro was extremely proud of his effet de neige compositions and exhibited at least nine winterscapes at the eight Impressionist exhibitions held periodically from 1874 to 1886.
The full Impressionist palette in the present picture has been used so as to extract the maximum colour from the frozen landscape. Early morning colours characterise the painting with strong browns and purples indicating what little shadow of the day has to offer. The view depicted here is one of the least typical of the Eragny period. Pissarro, usually favoured looking out from his upper floor studio across the river towards Bazincourt, but in all probability the fog lying heavily on the landscape obscured his view and he turned instead to the shorter perspective across his own farmyard towards the trees half obscured in the midst. Pissarro's masterpiece Matin, effet de soleil, hiver Eragny (fig. 1) reflects a similarity of subject, palette and composition endorsing Pissarro's direct observation of nature, and his fascination with an acute recording of light and climatic conditions.
Throughout his career Pissarro painted just over one hundred snow scenes indicating his particular enthralment with winter landscapes. In his correspondence to Lucien, Pissarro writes: "Il a fait un bien beau temps ces jours-ci... froid sec, gele blanche et soleil radieux... aussi j'ai commenc une srie d'tudes de ma fentre..." (Letter 26 December 1891, Correspondance de Camille Pissarro, vol. III, Paris, 1988, p. 174). Indeed, for Pissarro nature was at its most inspiring and colourful during the coldest time of the year. "Nous avons en ce moment la campagne couverte de neige, tous les trois nous sommes mis aux fentres pour faire l'unique et beau motif de Bazincourt; cela change tellement, ce n'est jamais pareil, j'en ai fait une vingtaine" (Letter 9 December 1892, ibid., p. 284).
Pissarro was extremely proud of his effet de neige compositions and exhibited at least nine winterscapes at the eight Impressionist exhibitions held periodically from 1874 to 1886.