# A Creek in St. Thomas (Virgin Islands)

**Camille Pissarro** (French, 1830–1903)  
1856  
oil on academy board  
overall: 24.5 x 32.2 cm (9 5/8 x 12 11/16 in.) framed: 37.5 x 45.7 x 4.8 cm (14 3/4 x 18 x 1 7/8 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985.64.29. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.66427.html).

## About this work

A wide creek winds between a grove of palms and tree-covered boulders, with mauve-pink mountains on the far shore and a low sun laying a yellow streak across the still water. A man in a white loincloth walks the bank with a long stick. Pissarro was born on St Thomas, then a Danish colony in the Caribbean, and he signed this small painting “C. Pizarro. 1856. Paris.”, the year after he settled in France: it is a memory of the island, made long before he became one of the founders of Impressionism. The careful, even finish is quite unlike his later broken brushwork.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Camille Pissarro painted this in 1856, aged 26. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### What you’re looking at

A wide creek winds between a tree-lined bank to our left and hazy mountains to our right in this horizontal landscape painting. The riverbank curves deeply like a backward capital letter B. Marshy grasses grow in tufts, and palm and other trees grow in a grove to our left. One brown-skinned person wearing only a white cloth around the hips carries a long stick near the shoreline. Dabs of brown and muted dark pink suggest other people farther along the riverside. Tree-covered boulders jut into the creek from our right. A band of rocky, mountains are smoky mauve-pink across the rightmost two-thirds of the horizon, which comes a third of the way up the composition. The butter-yellow sun is low on the horizon to our right, peeking through the grove of palm trees. The light pours across the placid surface of the creek, creating a soft yellow streak next to the reflection of the mountain ridge. A few heather-pink clouds drift across the pale turquoise sky. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “C. Pizarro. 1856. Paris.”

_Description from the National Gallery of Art._

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Camille Pissarro](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/camille-pissarro)

French, 1830–1903; born in Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas; died in Paris

Pissarro was born on the Caribbean island of Saint Thomas and moved to France in 1855. Encouraged by Corot, he became the elder statesman of Impressionism, the only painter to show at all eight of the group’s exhibitions, and a generous mentor to Cézanne and Gauguin. He painted the villages and fields around Pontoise and Éragny, briefly adopted Seurat’s divided brushwork, and in his last decade made series of Paris, Rouen and Le Havre seen from hotel windows.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was 26
- Real size: about 9½ × 13 in (25 × 32 cm). The 11 × 14 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/impressionism)
- Subjects: Waterway, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1615.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1615/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/a-creek-in-st-thomas-virgin-islands-nga-66427).