Fenaison a ÉragnyHaystacking in Éragny Camille Pissarro1830-1903 ? French Signed "C.P." (lower right) Tempera on paper applied to canvas Canvas: 18 1/4" high x 23" wideFrame: 26 1/4" high x 30 1/2" wide This painting is featured in the Wildenstein Institute's catalogue raisonne entitled Pissarro: Critical Catalogue of Paintings, Volume 3, page 855. It is also accompanied by a certificate of authenticity by the Wildenstein Institute. An important work by Camille Pissarro, counted among the most prolific artists of the 19th century and widely considered the father of Impressionism. His revolutionary approach to painting and thought-provoking compositions had a profound effect on his contemporaries and the entire future of Modern art. In Fenaison a Éragny, Pissarro depicts the hay harvest in the French village of Éragny-sur-Epte, his home in the later years of his life. He painted various scenes of life in the rural landscape, but it is his works of Éragny that are considered the finest of his career. Born in St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies, Camille was sent to school in Paris at the age of 11 where he displayed a talent for drawing. In 1855, having convinced his parents of his determination to pursue a career as an artist rather than work in the family shipping business, he returned to Paris where he studied at the Academie Suisse alongside Claude Monet. At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, Camille moved to England. With Monet, he painted a series of landscapes around South-East London and studied English landscape painters in the museums. When he returned home to Louveciennes a year later, Camille discovered that all but 40 of the 1500 paintings he had left there - almost 20 years' work - had been vandalized. In 1872, Camille settled in Pontoise where he remained for the next 10 years, gathering a close circle of friends around him. Gauguin was among the many artists to visit him there and Cézanne, who lived nearby, came for long periods to work and learn. These were also the years of the Impressionist group exhibitions in which Camille played a major role, but which earned him much criticism for his art. While mainly interested in landscape, he introduced figures (generally peasants conducting their rural occupations) and animals into his work. These became the focal point of his most sought compositions. When Camille Pissarro died in the autumn of 1903, he had finally started to gain public recognition. Today, his work can be found in many of the most important museums and private collections throughout the world. Artist's Museums: Louvre, ParisGuggenheim Museum, New YorkHermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, RussiaJ. Paul Getty Museum, Los AngelesFitzwilliam Museum, University of CambridgeMetropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkMusée Camille Pissarro, Pontoise, FranceNational Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Museum of Fine Arts, BostonTate Gallery, LondonVan Gogh Museum, Amsterdam References: Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs, 1976, E. Bénézit
