Camille Pissaro,French,The Garden of the Tuileries on a Spring Morning,1899,oil on canvas
Between January and June 1899,Pissarro painted fourteen views of the Tuileries from a third-floor flat at 204,rue de Rivoli.Six are from this vantage point looking southwest over the garden towards the Left Bank with the Grand Bassin nearly straight ahead.Across the Seine,the spires of Sainte-Clotilde and the Guilhem Dome does Invalides pierce the horizon line of mid rise buildings.
Nature plays a greater role in the Tuileries paintings than in his previous cityscapes,but even the natural elements play evidence of human control.In the foreground,the freshly manicured green grass and leafy trees,trimmed in the marquis style,indicate the onset of spring.Shadows cast to the west signal morning light on a clear day with puffy clouds scattered across the pale blue sky.Straight sandy pathways radiate with geometric position from the round central pool.Sculptures in stone pedestals,smaller boxed trees,and flowering bushes border the parterres,kept free of traffic by low-slung fences.The garden is populated
with promenades,many in pairs,including a woman with a baby carriage at the lower edge.Pissarro rendered the figures summarily with a few darker brush strokes distinguishing them from the light ground.
Across the composition,the loose handling of paint and blond tonality harken back to his earliest Impressionist style,following a period when he had experimented with the fastidious dotted brushwork and pure colors championed by the Neo Impressionists.Indeed,Signac registered his disappointment in Pissarro's take on the Tuileries when he saw the initial winter views,still unfinished,in February 1899:"His earlier works hang on the wall of the room,making it plain how much these new ones yield to them.Truly,in these dirty,cloudy tones we can no longer see what a wonderful colorist Pissarro was."Yet by spring,sunnier weather forecast Pissarro's use of a brighter palette.
Since the beginning of his career,Pissarro strived to depict his "sensations,"or personal perceptions of moment in time rendered in a fluid technique.The Tuileries provided a subject that was both timeless in its historic presence, and transitory,constantly revolving with the changes in light,atmosphere,and activity-the Met
Provenance:[Durand-Ruel,Paris,1899-at least 1921;bought from the artist on May 18,1899 for Fr 3,000][Durand-Fuel,New York,until 1942;sold on December 23 to Salz];[Sam Salz,New York,1942-43;sold on February 16th for $6,500 to Carstairs];[Carroll Carstairs,New York,and Knoedletr,New York,1943;sold on November 5 for $12,000 to Ryan](Mrs. Richard N. Ryan's later Mrs Clifford Klenk) New York (1943-1968;sale,Parke Bernet,New York,October 9,1968,as "Jardins des Tuileries,matinée de printemps,for $260,000 to Dillon);Mr and Mrs Douglas Dillon,New York (from 1968)-the Met
Camille Pissaro,French,The Garden of the Tuileries on a Spring Morning,1899,oil on canvas
Between January and June 1899,Pissarro painted fourteen views of the Tuileries from a third-floor flat at 204,rue de Rivoli.Six are from this vantage point looking southwest over the garden towards the Left Bank with the Grand Bassin nearly straight ahead.Across the Seine,the spires of Sainte-Clotilde and the Guilhem Dome does Invalides pierce the horizon line of mid rise buildings.
Nature plays a greater role in the Tuileries paintings than in his previous cityscapes,but even the natural elements play evidence of human control.In the foreground,the freshly manicured green grass and leafy trees,trimmed in the marquis style,indicate the onset of spring.Shadows cast to the west signal morning light on a clear day with puffy clouds scattered across the pale blue sky.Straight sandy pathways radiate with geometric position from the round central pool.Sculptures in stone pedestals,smaller boxed trees,and flowering bushes border the parterres,kept free of traffic by low-slung fences.The garden is populated
with promenades,many in pairs,including a woman with a baby carriage at the lower edge.Pissarro rendered the figures summarily with a few darker brush strokes distinguishing them from the light ground.
Across the composition,the loose handling of paint and blond tonality harken back to his earliest Impressionist style,following a period when he had experimented with the fastidious dotted brushwork and pure colors championed by the Neo Impressionists.Indeed,Signac registered his disappointment in Pissarro's take on the Tuileries when he saw the initial winter views,still unfinished,in February 1899:"His earlier works hang on the wall of the room,making it plain how much these new ones yield to them.Truly,in these dirty,cloudy tones we can no longer see what a wonderful colorist Pissarro was."Yet by spring,sunnier weather forecast Pissarro's use of a brighter palette.
Since the beginning of his career,Pissarro strived to depict his "sensations,"or personal perceptions of moment in time rendered in a fluid technique.The Tuileries provided a subject that was both timeless in its historic presence, and transitory,constantly revolving with the changes in light,atmosphere,and activity-the Met
Provenance:[Durand-Ruel,Paris,1899-at least 1921;bought from the artist on May 18,1899 for Fr 3,000][Durand-Fuel,New York,until 1942;sold on December 23 to Salz];[Sam Salz,New York,1942-43;sold on February 16th for $6,500 to Carstairs];[Carroll Carstairs,New York,and Knoedletr,New York,1943;sold on November 5 for $12,000 to Ryan](Mrs. Richard N. Ryan's later Mrs Clifford Klenk) New York (1943-1968;sale,Parke Bernet,New York,October 9,1968,as "Jardins des Tuileries,matinée de printemps,for $260,000 to Dillon);Mr and Mrs Douglas Dillon,New York (from 1968)-the Met