My French Easel: Impressionist paintings in the Ashmolean Museum

Thursday, 4 September 2014

Impressionist paintings in the Ashmolean Museum

Landscape at Pontoise (oil on canvas - 46 x 55 cm) by Camille Pissarro (dated 1872)

This painting was owned originally by Edgar Degas. Pissarro moved to Pontoise in 1866 and created many paintings there. The style is reminiscent of some of Monet’s paintings, who influenced him.

Brick Kiln at Éragny - oil on canvas (38 x 46 cm) by Camille Pissarro (dated: 1885)

Pissarro moved to Éragny-sur-Epte in 1884. The brick kiln was close to the Pissarro's home.

The Village of Éragny - oil on canvas; 55 x 35 cm Camille Pissarro (1885)

Bath Road, London - oil on canvas (54 x 65 cm) by Camille Pissarro

Lucien Pissarro, one of Camille Pissarro’s children, settled in London in 1893. They lived 62 Bath Road in Bedford Park. Camille and his wife visited their son after he had a stroke and stayed in London between 7 May and 20 July 1897.

Sunset at Éragny-sur-Epte, Autumn - oil on canvas (73 x 92 cm) by Camille Pissarro (1902)

This painting is a view from Pissarro’s studio window at Éragny.

A Mill near Zaandam - oil on canvas (42 x 73.5 cm) by Claude Monet

Monet painted this view near Zaandam during a visit to Holland in 1871.

La toilette (Celle qui se peigne) oil on board (58 x 46 cm) by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (dated 1891)

The theme of this painting reminds of Degas’ pastel. Toulouse-Lautrec painted in oil, with turpentine diluted colours and no texture. This gives the appearance of a work executed in pastel (but with more defined outlines).

Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus - Oil on canvas (111 x 70 cm) by Édouard Manet

This oil painting sketch was painted by Manet in the autumn of 1868. Fanny Claus, the model, was a concert violinist and friend of Manet’s wife. A similar setting, with the same green shutters, was used for The Balcony (Le Balcon), a larger work that Edouard Manet painted after this sketch and is in the collections of the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. In The Balcony, the artist Berthe Morisot is seated in the foreground and Fanny Claus is standing on the right.