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Camille Pissarro (French, 1830–1903). The Climb, Rue de la Côte-du-Jalet, Pontoise, 1875. Oil on canvas, 21 1/8 x 25 3/4 in. (53.7 x 65.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Dikran G. Kelekian, 22.60
In 1873, Pissarro settled in Pontoise, a town northwest of Paris. He particularly favored painting the adjoining valley village of L'Hermitage, which offered a mix of geometric and organic shapes: new homes built of white stucco, with angular pitched roofs, nestled among dense foliage. For this painting, Pissarro positioned himself halfway up a winding footpath and selected a downward view of the hamlet through the trees. The work demonstrates a broad array of painting techniques, from sure, singular touches for distant windows and doors to thick palette-knife applications for the foreground greenery. Despite the variety of surface textures, Pissarro unifies the composition tonally: the white and creams of the architecture appear in the tree trunks and well-trodden path, while the cool blues and warm ochers of the roofs bleed through the green foliage.
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum