The Cleveland Museum of Art
Edge of the Woods Near L'Hermitage, Pontoise
Description
Born to a French-Jewish family on St. Thomas island in the Caribbean, Pissarro painted this monumental landscape when he was desperately poor and struggling to sell his paintings. It depicts a man slumbering in the sun-dappled backwoods of the Hermitage, a rural village near Pontoise, where the artist had been living since 1872. Restricting his palette to pure hues, Pissarro applied brushstrokes in systematic diagonal patterns, producing an effect that he likened to knitting. This canvas was included in the fourth Impressionist exhibition of 1879.
Provenance
Family of the artist, sold to Bernheim-Jeune; (Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, sold to L’Art Moderne); (L'Art Moderne, Lucerne); (L'Art Moderne sale, Hôtel Drouot, June 20, 1935 (no. 59), sold to André Schoeller); (André Schoeller [1898-1991], Paris); (Charles Comiot, Paris; (César de Hauke and Hector Brame, Paris, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Dimensions
125 × 163 cm
Movement / Period
Accession No
1951.356
Official Citations
Curatorial Affinity Stream
Continuing the Universe of Camille Pissarro (French, 1830–1903)
Modern European Painting and Sculpture • France, 19th century • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries
Continuous Discovery