Camille Pissarro

AKA:

Dean of the Impressionist Painters

Birth Name:

Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro

Birth Date:

July 10, 1830

Birth Place:

Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, Danish West Indies

Death Date:

November 13, 1903

Place of Death:

1 Boulevard Morland, 4th Arrondissement, Paris, France

Age:

Cause of Death:

Sepsis

Cemetery Name:

Cimetière du Père Lachaise

Claim to Fame:

Artists

Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) was a French Danish painter and one of the key figures in the development of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Born in the Danish West Indies (now the U.S. Virgin Islands), he moved to France at age 12 to study art. His early work was influenced by the realism of Gustave Courbet, but over time, Pissarro became a central figure in the Impressionist movement. Pissarro's style evolved throughout his career, initially focusing on capturing the effects of light and atmosphere in natural scenes. He was a key contributor to the group's revolutionary approach to painting, using loose brushwork and an emphasis on outdoor scenes. His work often depicted rural landscapes, urban scenes, and daily life. Later, influenced by Georges Seurat's pointillism, Pissarro incorporated this technique into his work during his time in Paris. Pissarro was not only important as an artist but also as a mentor and friend to many other artists, including Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin,, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Georges Seurat. Despite facing financial hardships and occasional criticism of his work, he remained dedicated to his artistic vision despite living in poverty. He continued to paint prolifically until an eye disease rendered him blind and he died shortly after in 1903, leaving behind a legacy that cemented his place as one of the most significant artists in the transition from realism to modern art.

Fun Facts

In 1871 in Croydon, England, he married his mother’s maid, Julie Vellay, a vineyard grower’s daughter, with whom he had seven children, six of whom would become painters. The grandson of Camille Pissarro, Hugues Claude Pissarro (dit Pomié), was born in 1935 and his work has been featured in exhibitions in Europe and the United States, and he was commissioned by the White House in 1959 to paint a portrait of U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower. He now lives and paints in Donegal, Ireland, with his wife Corinne who is also an accomplished artist and their children.

During World War II many original Pissarro paintings were looted from Jewish owners. After the war many of those paintings found their way into the United States illegallydisplayed at such museums as the Jewish Museum in New York and the University of Oklahoma.

The most expensive impressionist painting by Pissarro sold to date is Boulevard Montmartre (Spring Morning) which sold for £19.9 million when auctioned by Sotheby’s in London in February 2014, giving it an adjusted price of $38.3 million.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Cimetière du Père Lachaise

16 Rue du Repos, 6ème division, Chemin Lesseps

Paris, , 75020

France

Europe

Map:

Map of Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in Paris, France

Grave Location:

Division 7, Avenue Rachel, Section 3, Ligne 2, Number 13

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery from the Rue de Repo gate, take an immediate right onto Avenue Rachel and the famed impressionist artist is 47 burial plots from the intersection on the left (or 22 burial plots past the infamous Rothschild banking family) second row in.