Coconut Palms by the Sea, St. Thomas (Translation)
Cocotiers au Bord de la Mer, St. Thomas (Primary Title)
Camille Pissarro, French, 1830 - 1903 (Artist)
This is one of several landscapes of Pissarro’s homeland on the island of St. Thomas in the West Indies that he painted from memory while living in Paris. Pissarro quit his family business and left his birthplace as a young man, eventually moving to the French capital in 1855 and working as an apprentice in Anton Melbye’s studio. During this period, he also studied at Paris’s Academy of Fine Arts and the Swiss Academy, where he met notable future Impressionist artists including Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne. Uninspired by the methods he was learning in these classes, he began taking lessons from both Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and Gustave Courbet. Corot especially influenced Pissarro’s outdoor painting method, and the incorporation of receding paths or rivers in the younger painter’s landscapes is reminiscent of many of his teacher’s compositions. However, Pissarro’s preference for painting individuals in a natural landscape unadulterated by grandiose effects and obvious stylistic affectations meant that their respective styles also diverged significantly. He often included small figures like those seen here to indicate the scale of his scenes. His characteristically precise brushwork and use of chromatic nuances are highly effective in rendering the island’s lush vegetation and suggesting the humidity of the season’s calm tropical weather.
"Van Gogh Monet Degas, The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts", Palazzo Zabarella, Padua, Italy, October 26, 2019 - March 1, 2020
Van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Their Times: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN, February 2 - May 5, 2019; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, April 4, 2020 - January 10, 2021
"Van Gogh, Monet, Degas: The Mellon Collection of French Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts", The Frick Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, March 17 - July 15, 2018; Oklahoma Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, June 22 - September 22, 2019
“Pissarro, Between Danish Golden Age Painting and French Impressionism”, Ordrupgaard Museum for Fransk Impressionisme, Copenhagen, Denmark, March 9 – July 2, 2017
Impressionism and the Caribbean: Francisco Oller and His Transatlantic World, Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas, June 14 - September 6, 2015; Brooklyn Museum, October 2, 2015 - January 3, 2016; Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, January 29 - April 24, 2016
Pissarro, Hayward Gallery, London, Oct. 20, 1980-Jan. 11, 1981; Grand Palais, Paris, Jan. 30-April 27, 1981; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, May 19-Aug. 9, 1981
Camille Pissarro, Kunstmuseum, Berne, Jan. 19-March 10, 1957
Exposition Camille Pissarro, Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, June 26-Sept. 14, 1956
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.
