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Camille Pissarro, 'Late Afternoon in our Meadow', 1887

About the work

Overview

In 1884 Pissarro settled with his family in the village of Eragny. He painted a number of views of this meadow which is planted with small trees still surrounded by their protective cages. It is late afternoon and the long shadows thrown by the trees radiate out in a fan shape towards the left corner. A solitary figure stands in the sun, a basket in one hand, the other on her hip.

In 1885 Pissarro met Georges Seurat and subsequently adopted his pointillist technique of applying small dots of colour alongside each other to create an optical mixture. Here he has enlivened the underlying green of the grass with small touches of pink and yellow, while using blue, mauve and the odd touch of orange in the shadowed areas. In the trees, he has painted the foliage with strong vertical brushstrokes. The creams, yellows and blues of the densely applied brushstrokes in the sky reinforce the pervading atmosphere of shimmering light.

Key facts

Details

Full title
Late Afternoon in our Meadow
Artist dates
1830 - 1903
Date made
1887
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
54 × 65 cm
Inscription summary
signed; dated
Acquisition credit
Accepted in lieu of Inheritance Tax by HM Government (under a hybrid arrangement) from the collection of William Waldorf Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor, and allocated to the National Gallery, with the support of a generous legacy from James Francis George Wilson, 2020
Inventory number
NG6689
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Frame
19th-century French Frame

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.

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