ART BOOK ANNEX

Vue de Bazincourt, Brouillard
 c. 1894 PDR 1024  Private collection

“Vue de Bazincourt, Brouillard” (1894, PDR 1024) is a tiny oil painting, about 13 by 16 inches, but it is a little treasure. It was among the paintings available at this fall’s Impressionist auctions, and one very discerning collector took it home.

Pissarro made this painting at his home in Érany-sur-Epte.  He may have been working beside the back window of his studio, a remodeled barn in the field behind his home. He was looking across the tiny Epte River, indicated by the slightly darker line with trees on the sides, towards the church steeple in the neighboring village of Bazincourt. It must have been early spring because the pastures have a tinge of green, and the horizontal stripe in the foreground appears to be plowed ground. Everything looks misty because of the heavy fog.

The mauve-like color in the foreground fades into pale green, which merges into pale coral before disappearing into the gray blue sky. When you see this painting in person, the fog appears much heavier, and the colors and shapes are less distinct.  In fact, it you stand back from it, it looks like a Rothko, simply strips of color fading one into the other.

Pissarro was painting what he saw, but he did not see a village and fields and trees. He simply saw strips of color—an abstract motif.