I’ve loved Pissarro very long. It was an intuitive, pleasant appreciation: a gentle admixture of countryside peace, spatial and formal comfort, and those trees! Such a reprise of Corot’s silvered beauties. No wonder I loved him, growing up as I did in Wisconsin, with its rural charm, land and seasonal identity, and the political tides of immigrant democracy that acted upon we small town folk.
Last year I set out to discover why. In winter 2010, I saw several major Pissarros in San Francisco at the De Young in “Masterpieces from the Musèe d’Orsay”, including the marvelous “Red Roofs in Winter, Village Corner, Impression of Winter”, 1877.
I love the spatial complexity, the rich softened autumnal palette, the way the tree forms integrate the composition’s structure. The horizontality and slight downward curve of the hill behind the cottages are horizontal, the parallel lines creating a calm quiet mood.
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| The paint strokes are thick impasto, laced together and applied with sure, deft strokes. Thus the painting has a vibrant intense quality that provides a counterpoint to the countryside’s still slow nature. Perhaps this is an example of Pissarro’s “romantic Impressionism”, which he left behind as he experimented with other Post-Impressionist styles. I realize that it is the earlier landscapes that I love the most. |
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