The Place du Havre, Paris1893
Pissarro looks down from an upper window onto the Place du Havre beside the Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris, where pedestrians and carriages cross in every direction. More about this work
About this work
Pissarro looks down from an upper window onto the Place du Havre beside the Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris, where pedestrians and carriages cross in every direction. In the 1890s, troubled by an eye condition that made working outdoors difficult, he painted a series of city views from hotel rooms, returning to the same streets in different weather and light. The high viewpoint flattens the scene into a lively pattern of small strokes, a modern, anonymous crowd in constant motion.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
A work made of oil on canvas.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
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
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.
Impressionism
Painters in 1870s Paris who worked quickly, often outdoors, to catch light as it changed.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1922.434
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
