Woman and Child at the Well

Oil on canvasCamille Pissarro (French, 1830–1903)/1882

Description

By the 1880s, Camille Pissarro, like most of his Impressionist colleagues, sought an alternative to the style he had employed over the previous decade, deciding to focus on figures rather than landscapes. Of the 36 paintings he showed at the seventh Impressionist exhibition, in the spring of 1882, 27 were figural. Woman and Child at the Well is one of a series of works depicting peasant girls taking a break from their chores, their poses and gestures suggesting narratives that remain ambiguous. As the model for the boy in this composition, Pissarro used his fourth son, Ludovic-Rodolphe, who was four years old at the time.

Provenance

The artist (d. 1903); sold to Durand-Ruel, Paris, August 5, 1882 [this and the five following per Pissarro and Snollaerts 2005]. Durand-Ruel, New York, by August 5, 1882; sold to William Loring Andrews, New York, February 27, 1888; sold back to Durand-Ruel, New York, May 21, 1891; sold to Cyrus J. Lawrence, New York, December 19, 1891; sold back to Durand-Ruel, New York, January 2, 1892; sold to Potter Palmer (d. 1902), Chicago, March 2, 1892, for $750 [per Durand-Ruel Archives, New York stock book 1888-1892, no. 860, as Femme au puits, as confirmed by Caroline Durand-Ruel Godfroy, Durand-Ruel Archives, to the Art Institute of Chicago, Dec. 13, 1994, curatorial object file]; by descent to the Potter family, Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.

Dimensions

81.5 × 66.4 cm (32 1/8 × 26 1/8 in.)

Source

The Art Institute of Chicago

Movement / Period

Post-Impressionism

Accession No

81552

Official Citations

[The Art Institute of Chicago Official Record][Full Resolution Image]

Curatorial Affinity Stream

Continuing the Universe of Camille Pissarro (French, 1830–1903)

Post-Impressionism • France • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries

Continuous Discovery