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The Humble and Colossal Pissarro:
“Father to Us All”
- Abstract
“I am waiting for other collectors, but I am hardly besieged with demands! I see that we are far from being understood—quite far—even by our friends.”
These lines were written by Camille Pissarro on September 22, 1903, to his oldest son in London, who was also his closest friend. It was the last letter Lucien Pissarro ever got from his father, for the latter died soon after, on November 12, 1903.
During his lifetime, Pissarro got less recognition than any other of the original Impressionist painters save Alfred Sisley. But it would be wrong to assume that he missed worldly success entirely. Only it came late—in 1892, when all of the oils and gouaches he showed at a one-man exhibition at Durand-Ruel’s were sold, and he first knew a modicum of financial security. But the most eloquent sign of triumph was the first appearance on the market of faked Pissarros, a year later. By the time of his death, he owned a house in Paris as well as a place in the country.
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