Fishmarket

1902

Fishmarket, 1902. Camille Pissarro (French, 1830–1903). Oil on canvas; unframed: 66 x 81.3 cm (26 x 32 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2020.113 This impressive view of a bustling fish market belongs to a series of paintings that Pissarro made during the summer of 1902 depicting the harbor at Dieppe. Borrowing from the Impressionist method of portraying a modern city from a high vantage point, he enlivened the scene with rich, vibrant colors applied with energetic, broken brushstrokes. Ever concerned with the fleeting effects of atmosphere, Pissarro painted the interpenetration of industrial steam with the clouds in the brilliant, sunlit sky. Pissarro painted this work from an upper level hotel room in Dieppe. He was suffering from a recurring eye infection at the time that prevented him from working outdoors.