Boulevard Montmartre, Twilight, 1897, Private collection, PDRS 1170
When the gavel dropped on June 19, 2019 at Sotheby’s London Impressionist sales, Pissarro’s Boulevard Montmartre, Twilight sold for the amazing sum of 7,145,900 GBP, equivalent in American dollars to $9,077,790.
Many of the paintings Pissarro made during his Paris expedition from February 10 to about April 25, 1897 depict cloudy, overcast, or rainy weather. But in this painting, strong sunlight paints a broad swathe of pinkish gold diagonally across the boulevard, complimentary to the lavender shadows beyond. The rows of Haussmann apartments on the right, usually gray, are tinged with gold, and the brick chimneys are rosy in broad sunlight. The trees lining both sides of the boulevard are leafing out in the tender delicate green of early spring. Even the sky, tinges of pink among the blue, reflects the late afternoon sun.
Because we know this scene so well, whether from experience or from photographs, our eyes tend to fill in what the painter chose not delineate. The brushstrokes are, in fact, mere suggestions with virtually no detail at all. Certain segments of the painting, when isolated, look almost abstract.
Of the 16 paintings Pissarro did during this expedition, the art dealer Durand-Ruel bought 12 of them. This painting was one that he bought. Pissarro’s painting of the same scene at night during a heavy rainstorm, Boulevard Montmartre, Night Effect, is virtually abstract with colors and shapes dissolving into reflections. Durand-Ruel did not buy that one. Perhaps he thought it too avant-garde for his clients. It is now one of Pissarro’s most loved paintings.
Boulevard Montmartre, Night Effect, 1897, The National Gallery, London, PDRS 1168
NOW AVAILABLE
In time for Pissarro’s 189th birthday
on July 10th
“Abstract Pissarro sheds new light on Camille Pissarro’s innovative and rich painting techniques, highlighting in unparalleled words his role in the birth of modern art. Ann Saul explores, in depth, Pissarro’s continual experimentation and adaptation of new ideas and lays out how artists to this day have continued to be inspired by his work. This book provides a radical and fresh look at art history.
—Joachim Pissarro, art historian and great-grandson of Camille Pissarro
“Ann Saul has a very strong knowledge of the artist’s life and œuvre and a very accurate and sensitive eye.”
—Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, art historian and great-great-granddaughter of Paul Durand-Ruel
Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts are co-authors of Pissarro: Catalogue Critique des Peintures (2005).
ABSTRACT PISSARRO questions what we believe about Pissarro as an Impressionist and shows how he, in fact, planted the seeds for abstract art in his rebellion against the Paris Salon. The radical innovations he introduced are evident in paintings of the Abstract Expressionists and contemporary abstract painters today.
ABSTRACT PISSARRO is now available on Amazon. For more information or to order a copy from the author, write: abstractpissarro@yahoo.com.
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