Pissarro's Boulevard Montmartre
In 1897 Pissarro painted a busy Paris boulevard from his hotel window at every hour and in every weather.
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About the series
In early 1897 Camille Pissarro took a room at the Hôtel de Russie in Paris, looking down on the Boulevard Montmartre. From that window he painted the boulevard fourteen times, and two more views of the Boulevard des Italiens from the same room.
The canvases show the same street at different times of day and in different seasons: morning mist, spring sunshine, rain, winter grey and one rare night scene with gas lamps and reflections on wet paving. Crowds, carriages and trees are painted in quick, broken strokes. Pissarro was in his sixties and had trouble with his eyes, which made painting indoors from a window practical. Versions hang in the National Gallery in London, which holds the night view, the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
The canvases are all wide and similar in format, so two contrasting views, such as sunshine and night, pair well.
