Camille Pissarro, 'The Avenue, Sydenham', 1871
About the work
Overview
This is one of 12 pictures that Pissarro painted while in self-imposed exile in London from 1870 to 1871 during the Franco-Prussian war. The Avenue was a wide, tree-lined street in Sydenham, a fashionable semi-rural suburb near Crystal Palace in south London. The location can be identified today as Lawrie Park Avenue with the church of Saint Bartholomew, built in 1832, in the distance. This springtime scene would have been painted in April or May 1871, shortly before Pissarro’s return to France.
Although a painting of an outdoor location, Pissarro completed it in his studio. With the exception of the sky, he mixed much of the paint with white to reduce the colour contrasts and create a consistent light tonality throughout. The traditional use of perspective, acceptable degree of finish and picturesque motif were perhaps intended to appeal to English buyers wary of the swift brushwork of Impressionist painting.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Avenue, Sydenham
- Artist
- Camille Pissarro
- Artist dates
- 1830 - 1903
- Date made
- 1871
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 48 × 73 cm
- Inscription summary
- Signed; Dated
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1984
- Inventory number
- NG6493
- Location
- Room 41
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 19th-century English Frame
Provenance
Additional information
This painting is included in a list of works with incomplete provenance from 1933–1945; for more information see Whereabouts of paintings 1933–1945.
Text extracted from the National Gallery’s Annual Report, ‘The National Gallery Report: January 1982 – December 1984’.
Exhibition history
-
2014Inventing Impressionism: Paul Durand-Ruel and the Modern Art MarketMusée du Luxembourg9 October 2014 - 8 February 2015Philadelphia Museum of Art24 June 2015 - 13 September 2015
-
2017Impressionists in London: French Artists in Exile 1870-1904Tate Britain2 November 2017 - 7 May 2018Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris20 June 2018 - 14 October 2018
-
2020Masterpieces from the National Gallery, LondonThe National Museum of Western Art18 June 2020 - 18 October 2020The National Museum of Art3 November 2020 - 31 January 2021
-
2021Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, LondonNational Gallery of Australia5 March 2021 - 14 June 2021
Bibliography
-
1892G. Lecomte, L'Art impressionniste, d'après la collection privée de M. Durand-Ruel, Paris 1892
-
1892C. Saunier, 'L'art nouveau: I. Camille Pissarro', La Revue indépendante, 1892, pp. 30-40
-
1904T. Duret, 'Camille Pissarro', Gazette des beaux-arts, 1904
-
1905'French Impressionists at the Grafton Gallery', The Athenaeum, 1905
-
1908V. Pica, Gli impressionisti francesi, Bergamo 1908
-
1912T. Duret, Manet and the French Impressionists, London 1912
-
1925A. Tabarant, Pissarro, London 1925
-
1939L.-R. Pissarro and L. Venturi, Camille Pissarro: Son art et son oeuvre, Paris 1939
-
1954D. Cooper, The Courtauld Collection: A Catalogue and Introduction, London 1954
-
1973A. Callen, The Impressionists in London (exh. cat. Hayward Gallery, 3 January - 11 March 1973), London 1973
-
1977M. Reid, 'Three Paintings of London of 1871: What Do They Represent?', The Burlington Magazine, CXIX, 1977, pp. 251-61
-
1978J. House, 'New Material on Monet and Pissarro in London in 1870-1', The Burlington Magazine, CXX/907, 1978, pp. 636-42
-
1980R.E. Shikes and P. Harper, Pissarro: His Life and Work, London 1980
-
1985National Gallery, The National Gallery Report: January 1982 - December 1984, London 1985
-
1990D. Bomford, R. White and L. Williams, Impressionism (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 1990), London 1990
-
1993R. White and J. Pilc, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIV, 1993, pp. 86-94
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.