Camille Pissarro

Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist on 27^th November 1899)
E. J. van Wisselingh, Amsterdam (acquired from the above in 1938)
M. P. Voûte, Baarn (acquired from the above in 1938)
E. J. van Wisselingh, Amsterdam (acquired from the above in 1946)
H. Katz (acquired from the above in 1946)
Galerie Nathan, Zurich
Private Collection, Basel (acquired from the above in 1946)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Paris, Galerie Durand-Ruel, C. Pissarro, 1901, no. 26
London, Grafton Galleries, Pictures by Boudin, Cézanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, 1905, no. 196
Basel, Kunsthalle, Impressionisten - Monet, Pissarro, Sisley: Vorläufer und Zeitgenossen, 1949, no. 167
Bern, Kunstmuseum, Camille Pissarro, 1957, no. 104

Ludovic-Rodo Pissarro & Lionello Venturi, Camille Pissarro. Son art - son oeuvre, Paris, 1939, vol. I, no. 1088, catalogued p. 232; vol. II, no. 1088, illustrated pl. 217 (titled L'Auberge du manoir Ango, Varengeville, matin)
Joachim Pissarro & Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, Pissarro. Catalogue critique des peintures, Paris, 2005, vol. III, no. 1290, illustrated p. 799

The present work is one of several views of the orchard at the Manoir d'Ango in Varengeville that Pissarro painted in 1899. The artist arrived in this picturesque village in September of that year, and wrote to his son Georges: 'I've taken up quarters at Varengeville, a pretty village thirty minutes from the sea, a wooded countryside abounding in motifs, shadowy roads, a landscapist's country' (quoted in J. Pissarro & C. Durand-Ruel Snollaerts, op. cit., p. 797). Located near the coast of Normandy, southwest of Dieppe, at the time, however, Varengeville was not a popular tourist resort, and Pissarro did not paint any seascapes there. He stayed in Varengeville until 13^th October, having painted eight oils of the region (ibid., nos. 1286-1293), six of which depict the Manoir d'Ango.

Le Verger du manoir d'Ango, Varengeville, matin is a remarkable example of Pissarro's later rural landscapes. The fluid brushstrokes and vibrant palette he adopted during his Neo-Impressionist period evoke a natural rhythm and the rich, shimmering effect of light. The artist's belief in the harmonious coexistence of man and nature is reflected in his depiction of the female figure, echoing the vertical shape of the poplar trees to her right, dominating the composition. In the present work, he depicted this region on a sunny morning, rendering the shimmering effect of the early morning light on the trees and foliage and long shadows of the poplar trees spreading over the meadow. The vertical and horizontal lines dominating the composition are broken by the curving line of the narrow path, leading the viewer's eye towards the house at the centre.

Writing about this series of works, the authors of the Pissarro Catalogue critique des peintures wrote: 'The sixteenth-century manor-house of Ango was built for the renowned Dieppe ship-owner Jehan Ango and subsequently converted into a farm. The property comprises several charming Renaissance structures bordered by a row of tall beech trees. Pissarro was evidently more interested in rendering the vegetation on the estate than its buildings' (ibid., p. 797). The dramatic landscape and unique variances of sunlight in this small village attracted the attention of many poets, writers and artists, including Claude Monet, who painted a series of views of the region in 1882. Unlike Pissarro, Monet was fascinated by the coast at Varengeville, depicting the deserted beaches and cliffs, as well as the vegetation.

One of the most prominent avant-garde painters of his generation, Pissarro had achieved enormous success as both an Impressionist and a Neo-Impressionist painter. Adjusting certain elements from his classic Impressionist period of the 1870s, and combining them with characteristics of his Neo-Impressionist style of the 1880s, in the early 1890s Pissarro began developing a fresh approach to painting. That new found stability is reflected in the present work in its sense of unity and harmony between nature and the man-made. In his review for the 1892 exhibition published in Le Figaro, the writer Octave Mirbeau described the artist's visual concerns: 'The eye of the artist, like the mind of the thinker, discovers the larger aspects of things, their wholeness and unity. Even when he paints figures in scenes of rustic life, man is always seen in perspective in the vast terrestrial harmony, like a human plant. To describe  the drama of the earth and to  move our hearts, M. Pissarro does not need violent  gestures, complicated arabesques and sinister branches against livid skies [...] An orchard, with its apple trees in rows, its brick houses in the background and some women under the trees, bending and gathering the apples which have fallen to the ground, and a whole life is evoked, a dream rises up, soars, and such a simple thing, so familiar to our eyes, transforms itself into an ideal vision, amplified and raised to a great decorative poetry' (quoted in Ralph E. Shikes & Paula Harper, Pissarro: His Life and Work, New York, 1980, pp. 261-262).