Le Pré à Éragny, automne by Camille Pissarro

Camille Pissarro
1830-1903 | French

Le Pré à Éragny, automne

Signed and dated "C. Pissarro 1885" (lower left)
Oil on canvas

Few artists have shaped art history as profoundly as Camille Pissarro. Hailed as the "Father of Impressionism," he earned the deep respect of his peers, driving the movement through relentless innovation. Pissarro's great Impressionist landscapes from the 1880s are among the most coveted works in his oeuvre, embodying the artist's unparalleled talent for capturing the beauty of the French countryside. This painting, Le Pré à Éragny, automne (The meadow in Éragny, autumn), depicts one of Pissarro's most beloved landscapes with exceptional luminosity.

Settling in the small Normandy village of Éragny in the spring of 1884, Pissarro found in its surrounding fields an ideal environment for his artistic ideals. Unlike the urban centers that increasingly preoccupied many of his contemporaries, Éragny offered a vision of rural bliss at a time when mechanization and modernization were rapidly transforming the French landscape. In Le Pré à Éragny, automne, Pissarro presents a bucolic scene in his signature soft palette and precise brushwork, perfectly capturing the crisp atmosphere of harvest time—free from the encroachment of urbanization. Pissarro's deep attachment to this place is evident, and Éragny would become the landscape he painted most for the rest of his life.

This painting also comes with important provenance and exhibition history. It was acquired directly from the artist by the most important dealer of Impressionism, Paul Durand-Ruel, and it remained with Durand-Ruel and his family for decades until 1937.

As with the greatest artists in history, the demand for Pissarro’s work remains unwavering, especially for his celebrated landscapes from the pivotal period of the 1880s. When these rare works come to market, they consistently achieve impressive sums between $2 million and $6 million. Similar landscapes by Pissarro reside in the most important museums in the world, including the Musée d'Orsay, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and many more.

Born in St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies, Pissarro was educated in Paris from an early age and later trained at the Académie Suisse, where he formed enduring friendships with artists including Claude Monet. Over the course of his long career, he became a central figure of Impressionism and the only artist to participate in all eight of the group’s exhibitions. His influence extended well beyond his own generation, particularly through his close relationships with Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, both of whom benefited from his guidance during his years at Pontoise and Éragny.

Dated 1885

Canvas: 17 3/4" high x 21 1/4" wide (45.09 x 53.98 cm)
Frame: 27" high x 30 1/4" wide x 2 3/4" deep (68.58 x 76.84 x 6.99 cm)

View the Dossier

Provenance:
Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on 8 October 1886)
Paul Durand-Ruel, Paris
Joseph Durand-Ruel, Rome (by 1901)
Paul Durand-Ruel, Paris (by 1937)
M. Fleming (acquired from the above on 23 December 1937)
Sale: Sotheby’s London, 10 December 1969, lot 27 (illustrated in colour)
Mr. Pringle
Mrs. E. Ives Nartholet, New York
Private collection, USA (acquired from the above on 17 November 1971)
Sale: Sotheby’s New York, 3 May 2005, lot 14 (illustrated in colour; consigned by the above)
Private collection, Paris (acquired at the above)
M.S. Rau, New Orleans

Literature:
Galerie und Sammler, Zurich, 1938, no. 4 (illustrated)
L-R. Pissarro and L. Venturi, Camille Pissarro, son Art son Oeuvre, vol. I, Paris, 1939, p. 176, no. 671
L-R. Pissarro and L. Venturi, Camille Pissarro, son Art son Oeuvre, vol. II, Paris, 1939, pl. 139 (illustrated)
J. Pissarro and C. D-R. Snollaerts, Pissarro, Catalogue critique des peintures, vol. III, Paris, 2005, p. 532, no. 812 (illustrated) 

Exhibited:
Brussels, Cercle des XX, Sixième Exposition annuelle des XX, 1889, no. 3
London, Grafton Galleries, A Selection from the pictures by Boudin, Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, 1905, no. 192 (lent by Durand-Ruel, Paris)
London, Thomas Agnew & Son, Paintings and Drawings by Camille Pissarro, 1937, no. 35
Zürich, Galerie Aktuaryus, Pissarro, Sisley, Renoir, 1938, no. 4 London, O’Hana Gallery, Three Generations of Pissarros, 1954, no. 9