When people think of Impressionism, the first thing that comes to mind is Monet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne and others, but they often ignore a master who has spent his life closely associated with Impressionism, who is Pissarro. At this Expo, Camille Pissarro's famous painting "The Pilot's Dock in Le Havre" came to the exhibition, allowing us to see the master's style.
Throughout his life, Pissarro continued to explore with the brush in his hand, and he was a pioneer of Impressionism. He guided Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Renoir and others in finding their own styles; he overcame obstacles, organized and participated in successive independent exhibitions of Impressionism from 1874 to 1886, becoming the true leader of Impressionism.
Pissarro died in Paris in 1903 at the age of 73. A year before his death, Gauguin, who was far away in Tahiti, wrote: "He was my teacher"; three years after his death, Cézanne, the "father of modern painting", respectfully signed "Paul Cézanne – A Student of Pissarro" in the catalogue of his exhibited works. Pissarro's life can be said to be the most determined master of Impressionist art, his importance to Impressionism even exceeds Monet, his noble character is even more admirable, in the eyes of Impressionists, he is the parent of this loose family, "mainstay".
Camille Pissarro was born on July 10, 1830. He showed a talent for painting from an early age, picking up a pencil and painting the sea, merchant ships and hillsides of St. Thomas. He also likes to sit quietly in front of a store, drawing fancy-dressed sailors from more than a dozen countries in sketchbooks. However, his parents did not support Pissarro's hobbies. His father wanted Pissarro to enter the business and inherit the family business in the future. Therefore, Pissarro had no professional training in fine arts, and basically relied on self-study and copying in museums.
At the age of school, Pissarro was sent by his father to attend the Savali boarding school in Passy, near Paris. Here, Pissarro's talent for sketching was appreciated by Monsieur Savary. Over the next five years, under the tutelage of Mr. Savari, Pissarro learned some of the basics of painting. As soon as he had the opportunity to go to Paris, Pissarro followed his teacher to the Louvre to admire the paintings.
Later, Pissarro returned home to help his father take care of the store and account for the goods. Naturally intelligent, he learned English during this time. His father paid him a high salary, but he had never met an artist and could not express to others his desire to engage in art. In his spare time, he painted coconut palms and sometimes searched for sketches at the nearby sea.
In 1851, an acquaintance with the Danish painter Fritz Melbye changed Pissarro's fate. The common love of painting made the two see each other at first sight. Encouraged by Fritz Melby, Pissarro gave up his family job and followed him to Venezuela to find his ideals. Pissarro recalled the experience: "In 1852, I was a well-paid commercial clerk on the island of St. Thomas... Categorically abandoned everything I had there and fled to Caracas. Since then, I have cut off the bourgeois way of life. ”
In Caracas, Pissarro learned from Fritz Melby. He painted more than two hundred drawings, as well as many ink and pastel paintings, many of which were dated in Spanish, and even signed "pizarro" in Spanish. Pissarro captures local customs, painting women in headscarves, women on top of food, barefoot indigenous people, and so on. At this time, Pissarro began to be satisfied with painting.
In 1855, Pissarro traveled to Paris. In the autumn of 1855, the Universal Exposition held in Paris opened Pissarro's eyes. In addition to seeing the latest industrial inventions, he also saw more than 5,000 works of art from Various European countries on display. The most important works are more than 40 paintings by the leader of the Romantic movement, Eugène de la Croix, and 43 by Dominique Ingres. It was a great learning opportunity, and Pissarro also admired the works of Corot, Jean-François Miller and Charles-François Dubini. In front of Corot's paintings, he felt more peaceful than ever, and he said softly, "If I had to choose a teacher, it would be Corot." ”
Not long after, Pissarro was given a chance to visit Corot's studio. After reading Pissarro's sketches, watercolors and sketches, Corot thought that Pissarro's work had a strong sense of form and perspective, but was not satisfied with the excessive appearance of coconut trees in them, saying: "Forget the coconut trees, paint France!" Pissarro began to sketch in the city and suburbs of Paris.
1896 Oil on canvas. Canvas 54.3 x 65.1 cm (from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA)
He painted shops, theaters, and workers digging lakes in the woods, bridges over the Seine, nobles in horse-drawn carriages, and tourists.
In the summer of 1856, Pissarro, at the suggestion of Anton Melby, left the city to paint at Montmorency, 9 miles north of Paris. In this small quiet village, he set out to the forest every day at 3 a.m. to paint, and at night he read Rousseau's Confessions by candlelight. In August 1857, Pissarro moved to a small Town of Normandy called La Roche-Düyong. The town is located in the open area of the Seine River, and the outer walls of every house are crawled with wisteria, red geraniums, pansies and so on. Previously, he painted oil paintings in Montmorency, and the style was too similar to that of Corot. At La Roche Guyong, he began to establish his own style.
Later, Pissarro returned to Paris and entered the Reise Academy. There he met Monet, Armand Guiyoman, Paul Cézanne, Ludwig Pieter, and others. Introduced by the French painter Fontan Latour, Pissarro met and became a confidant at the Café Gerbua in Piazza cliché, two years younger than him. At that time, most of the painters' studios that frequented Gerbua's café were in the Badinuel neighborhood, and these painters slowly formed the "Badinuel Group", which was the predecessor of what came to be known as "Impressionism".
In Paris, Pissarro also met Julie Varé, a girl with whom he had been in love all his life. Julie was a servant of Pissarro's mother, the daughter of a vineyard grower. In 1860, Julie became pregnant. Unable to tolerate her son falling in love with a maid of low birth, the mother threatens Julie to leave or she will no longer sponsor Pissarro. Pissarro and Julie were forced to move out of their homes.
To save money, the Pissarro family moved to a farmhouse in the town of La Valen Saint-Hilaire. Local villagers, cows, lambs, haystacks, young people with rosy cheeks, old people in vicissitudes, farmers dressed neatly on Sundays and carrying parasols to church... The atmosphere of the countryside has revitalized Pissarro. He began to gently wipe with fluffy chalk and charcoal, and his sketching skills were refined.
In May 1863, the biennial salon exhibition was held as scheduled. Pissarro selected three paintings depicting rural landscapes. Manet sent "Lunch on the Grass", American painter James Whistler sent "The Girl in White", Monet sent three paintings depicting the canals and countryside in the Netherlands, and Fontaine Latour painted the dream-like sky with light gray brushstrokes.
However, a conservative jury left them behind. Pissarro protested to the authorities through various channels. In order to calm the storm, Napoleon III ordered the Fine Arts Exhibition to hold another salon exhibition of unsuccessful works. Pissarro thus won the respect of many painters.
The incident brought Pissarro and Monet closer together, and the two often went to cafes together, thus meeting the painter Frederick Bazier, who was acquainted with Cézanne, and Auguste Renoir, 22, who shared the studio with Bazier. In 1866, Pissarro met the French painter Edgar Degas, who openly called Pissarro's work "true art".
In this way, Pissarro gathered around a group of painters with common ideals.
At the Salon exhibition in 1864, Pissarro wrote on the selected works that he was a student of Corot. But in 1866, when Pissarro was preparing to submit his works "The Banks of the Marne in Winter" and "Papa Ian's House", he came to Corot with the paintings and still had to sign his name as his teacher. However, when Corot saw the work, he accused Pissarro of being dull. This was the beginning of Pissarro's split with the Corot Art Trail. Later, Pissarro gradually turned to the painting techniques of Impressionism.
1867 was a year of high production for Pissarro's work. In this year, he created the Landscape of the Pontoise Retreat, which, although it did not yet constitute the interrelationship of light and color in Pissarro's later great achievements, the advantages of Pissarro's paintings were already met. The format is large (151.4 cm×200 .6cm), and all details are strictly subordinated to the whole, forming a unity of form and color.
The painter and critic Redon commented on the painting: "His technique of dealing with the picture is generalized, but it shows his sincerity. Mr. Pissarro observes things with a sense of innocence. He is able to express more vividly the overall impression, which is powerful because of its simplicity. The French writer Emile Zola also wrote in the Current Affairs Pictorial: "In Pissarro's pen, you can hear the deep breath of the earth, imagine the power of the forest when it grows..."
In July 1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out. Monet took refuge in Pissarro's home. In early November 1870, Pissarro traveled to London with his wife, son Lucien and daughter Jenny to live in the half-sister's house. In this asylum, Pissarro was unable to take with him the works he had created over the past decade.
In London, Pissarro went to the British Museum with Monet, who was also exiled, to study the works of British painters such as Turner and John Constanbul. During his exile, Pissarro felt that London was not for him. In a letter to his friend, he said: "Only when you are in a foreign country can you feel how beautiful, broad and passionate France is. There's no art here, it's all trading. ”
As soon as the Franco-Prussian War ended, the Pissarro family returned to France. The cost of exile was heavy, and Pissarro's 1,500 drawings, sketches and paintings, nearly 20 years of painstaking efforts, were destroyed by the war, and only more than 40 works survived. This indirectly led to a change in Pissarro's later painting style.
Soon, Pissarro regained his strength. He saw the skies, the streets and the trees on the outskirts of Paris that he knew and loved, and he expressed them with a very direct feeling. Before 1870 he always painted large paintings, and now he has shrunk the canvas, because he has shaken off the yearning for heroism, and feels that his simple character should be commensurate with the simple theme. He especially liked to paint the road that disappeared into the distance.
For example, in the painting "Lu Fu Xi'an's Road", he uses the simplest way to deal with the space of the picture, using his favorite chiaroscuro technique. In 1872, the Pissarro family settled in Pontoise again, where they lived for 10 years.
Friends surrounded him again, and Cézanne often came to visit him, patiently learning to paint nature under his guidance.
In the spring of 1872, Friends such as Shabisha, Monet, and Degas decided to hold their own exhibitions. Degas, Renoir, Piet, Brackmont, Armand Guiman, Cézanne and others all actively participated.
On April 15, 1874, the Association of Independent Painters, organized by Pissarro and others, held its first exhibition, which lasted for one month, and 30 painters exhibited a total of 165 paintings. A total of 3,500 people visited the exhibition. However, only a few articles praised the exhibition, and more were insults and accusations. One critic seized on Monet's Sunrise Impression and argued that the members of the Badinuel group were merely "impressions." In the midst of the laughter, a new term was born: Impressionism.
None of the "Badinuel groups" liked the name, but Pissarro said, "Isn't this our painting?" Aren't we drawing impressions? Beyond that, what else can we call ourselves? The first time I was ushered into Corot's studio, he told me that the muse was in the woods and that what I was painting was the impression of what I saw that accompanied my feelings. We are all impressionists, so let's take this name as a badge of honor! ”
Thereafter, Pissarro became the true leader of "Impressionism".
In 1876, Pissarro's Harvest of Montefort composition became his most impressionistic masterpiece, and in the painting "Spring, Pontoise Vegetable Garden and Flowering Tree", Pissarro succeeded in maintaining an excellent composition, and the countless speckled color points in the picture did not hinder its integrity. The picture is permeated with the air of happiness, freshness and the joy of spring. The flowers are white, mixed with shades as blue as the sky, and the sky seems to bloom like flowers.
In recent years, Pissarro's creativity has been particularly vigorous, but it is precisely during this period that Pissarro's life is particularly difficult. In April 1878, his good friend Piet, who had been supporting him, died. At this time, Pissarro met Paul Gauguin. Gauguin was a stockbroker at the time, not fully involved in painting, and he helped Pissarro financially, who instructed him in painting.
In 1882, the Seventh Independent Exhibition was held with unprecedented success. But since this exhibition, the divisions of the Impressionists have become even more severe, and it is difficult to organize them anymore. Durand-Ruel offered to hold a solo retrospective exhibition for living painters. Monet was the first to exhibit, the second was Renoir, and the third was Pissarro. On May 1, 1883, Pissarro's solo exhibition opened. It happened to be the opening day of the official salon exhibition, and many viewers came to the Durand-Ruel Gallery after watching the official exhibition. Pissarro exhibited 70 paintings, which were very effective thanks to the installation of gas lamps and mirrors. One magazine commented: "Impressionists continued to present their work. After Monet and Renoir, it's now Pissarro's turn. Pissarro was one of the pioneers of Impressionism and never compromised.
In 1883, the Pissarro family moved to Elani, where they lived for 20 years until they reached the end of their lives. As the years passed, the lives of the "Impressionist" painters changed: Cézanne became a master and lived an indisputable life; Degas's eyes were about to go blind; Gauguin's health became worse and penniless; The Sisley's life was still passable; Renoir was in trouble changing his painting style... Pissarro met a new friend, the 34-year-old Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh.
Vincent's younger brother, Theo van Gogh, was a visionary dealer who organized a major solo exhibition for Pissarro at the gallery, featuring 20 of Hisaro's paintings and gouache paintings. He told collectors: "Pissarro has changed the way we look at the world. The beauty that Pissarro creates is immortal. ”
Under the management of Theo van Gogh, in a short period of time, Pissarro not only improved his economy, but also traveled to London to paint. Theo van Gogh also held a large retrospective exhibition of 71 works from 1870 to 1892 for Pissarro, including oil paintings and gouache, which was a great success.
In his later years, Pissarro was unable to paint outdoors due to an eye disease. His preferred subject matter was the scenery of the streets, squares, houses and bridges of Paris. He often rented a room on the top floor of the hotel, sat by the window, and with a vast view, he began to paint. He worked in bordeaux, Rouen, Pont Neuf and Le Havre and Dieppe in northern France. He is skilled and mature, and has created many extraordinary paintings such as "Ponte, Rouen".
In 1903, after Drawing a fairly successful landscape of the port in Le Havre, Pissarro felt extremely ill in early November. On November 13, he passed away.
Pissarro has been creating all his life. He said, "If I could start doing it all over again, then I would go the same way." Zola said: "Pissarro is one of my favorite artists. One need only look at these works to understand the person who created them, who has a serious and upright personality, does not lie, and always pursues immortal and pure truths in art. The beautiful picture of this artist is the act of an upright man... In his paintings, the voices of the depths of the land can be heard..."
Synthesized from: Douban, "The Biography of Camille Pissarro"
Editor: Chen Xihan