Camille Pissarro .. painting a world in motion

It is one of the most cruel ironies in art history. The man who spent his life defending outdoor painting was deprived of this freedom when his art finally triumphed.

By the late 1880s Pissarro had a chronic eye infection. The medical verdict is without appeal: the wind, cold and dust threaten to blind him. Refusing to give up, the artist adapts with genius. Since he can no longer survey the countryside, he makes the city his new playground, but safe.

In Paris or Rouen, he rents hotel rooms on the upper floors to paint the diving view from his window. Confined behind his glass, he masterfully captures the movement of the crowds, the carriages and the rain on the big boulevards. This handicap will give birth to its most modern and famous urban series.

At the end of the 1870s, Camille Pissarro's situation was critical. Although it is the pillar of the Impressionist movement, its rural landscapes are not sold and it struggles to feed its large family. Faced with this black misery, the artist decides to try a bold conversion in the decorative arts.

Located in Pontoise, he started painting on ceramics. For lack of means, he buys simple tiles of white earthenware on which he transposes his favorite themes: market scenes, peasants and country roads. He then transported his parts on foot to the factory in Osny to cook them.

Unfortunately, success is not on the table. Buyers are squandering his faiences just as much as his canvases. Around 1880, discouraged, he abandoned the experience and offered his rare creations to his relatives, including Mary Cassatt. Born of financial despair, these coins are now absolute rarity.

Camille Pissarro was not only the pillar of Impressionism, he was the most generous soul. Adorning a beard of patriarch, this egoless painter became the indispensable mentor of two giants then misunderstood: Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin.

In the 1870s Cézanne was rejected by all for his brutal style and fierce character. Pissarro welcomed him to Pontoise, placed his easel next to him and taught him to clear his pallet. A unique complicity is emerging. Later, Cézanne said with gratitude: "He was a father to me [...] and something like God. »

Pissarro then found Paul Gauguin, then a simple stockbroker. He encouraged him, introduced him to the Impressionists and encouraged him to leave everything for art. Without the benevolence and sharp eye of Pissarro, who was able to guide these marginal geniuses without ever breaking their singularity, the history of modern art would not have the same face.

In the middle of the 19th century, in Charlotte Amalie, on the Antillean island of Saint-Thomas, the Pissarro family maintained a prosperous trade in hardware and fabrics. For the young Camille, the future seems to be all set: he must succeed his father and manage family affairs. The young man spends his days doing inventories on the docks, but his eyes are elsewhere. As soon as he can, he escapes to eat the life of the port and the light of the Caribbean.

In 1850, fate changed. Camille meets Fritz Melbye, a daring Danish painter on the island. Impressed by the young man's raw talent, Melbye introduced him to the secrets of outdoor painting and shook his certainty. Between the security of the family counter and the art appeal, the choice is quickly made. In 1852, without the consent of his parents, Pissarro fled with his mentor to Caracas, Venezuela. It is there, far from paternal affairs, that he definitely chooses his way: he will be a painter.

This episode partly explains the rarity of Pissarro's youthful works. The complete sheet should cite a specific documentary source.