From a family of artists, Camille Pissarro was born on the tiny island of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. By the age of twenty, he made his way to Paris and studied under Corot, coming in close contact with the Barbizon masters. At first, he tried to devote his time to figures but ultimately he was entirely absorbed by landscapes.

Pissarro quickly fell under the spell of the rising impressionist movement, who were at that time the butt of public ridicule. He developed friend relationships through regular debate meetings at the Cafe Guerbois with Edgar Degas, Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Edouard Manet, and his cloest friend, Paul Cezanne.

Pissarro, both a painter and printmaker, was considered the father of the Impressionist Movement. He was the only painter to exhibit in all eight of the Impressionist exhibitions held between 1874 and 1886, including the first which was held at the studio of the photographer, Paul Nadar.

He was by no means narrow in outlook, however, and throughout his life remained as radical in artistic matters as he was in politics. In 1948 the critic Thadée Natanson wrote about Pissarro, "There was nothing of novelty or of excellence appeared that Pissarro had not been among the first, if not the very first, to discern and to defend". The significance of Pissarro’s work is in the balance he managed to maintain between tradition and the avant-garde. His techniques varied greatly from those of his peers.

Pissarro was revolutionary in renewing the art of painting in the working sense and at the same time he remained a classical artist respectful of worthwhile traditions. Despite his large-scale well thought out compositions he entered into the Salon shows, he prophetically combines striking elements of traditional artists with those of the Impressionists.

Around 1885 he took up the scientific method of the pointillists, but after a few years of these experiments he returned to a broader, more attractive manner. In the closing years of his life he produced some of his finest paintings. He captured with admirable truth the peculiar atmosphere, the color, and the Parisian life of the boulevards, streets and bridges.

Camille Pissarro died in Paris in 1903 but his memory lives on. His works are included in every major Impressionist exhibition and a room with his works called the "Caillebotte" in the the Luxembourg is dedicated to his honor.

The Old Market at Rouen 1898 Oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum, NY	Sunset at St. Charles 1891 Oil on canvas Clark Art Institute, MA	Bouquet Of Flowers 1873 Oil on canvas Private Collection

Boulevard Montmarte 1897 Oil on canvas Private Collection	Artist's Garden at Eragny 1898 Oil on canvas National Gallery, Washington, DC