Lesson 2: The Impressionist Movement
Degas, Pissarro, and Sisley
Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is as difficult to categorize, as his contemporary Edouard Manet. Degas’ work is more of the city than of the countryside. He had a penchant for painting ballet dancers in performance and rehearsal settings, women performing daily tasks like bathing and washing clothes, acrobats at the circus, and race horses. His work in oils and pastels is some of the most accomplished of 19th century French art. But Degas was also a cantankerous man who was often at odds with the other Impressionists.
Here's a great example of one of Degas' ballet dancer paintings:
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was born at St. Thomas in the West Indies and brought the warmth of his home islands to his work. He traveled around the rural areas of France to depict scenes of fields with peasants working, little villages, and fields covered in frost. He worked directly and with an acute eye, despite problems with his sight later in life. He was also an early socialist and at one point called for the burning down of museums! His later work is his best, including scenes of Parisian street life.
Here's a landscape painting by Pissarro:
Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) is a more modest figure in the movement than some of the others. He, like Pissarro, loved simple village settings rather than urban ones. He particularly favored the banks of the Seine west of Paris, where he lived. He loved the stretch of the river between Bougival and Marly-le-roi and often painted the barges and workers that were part of the everyday life of the river.
Here's a lovely view of the Seine painted by Sisley:
