Camille Pissarro, Gelée blanche, jeune paysanne faisant du feu, 1887-88
Estimate £8,000,000–12,000,000
‘Shot with luminous beams, while the pale meadow, the bare trees, the frosty distances, the fire flaring up and smoking, the wind ruffling the girl’s rough wool skirt, the little boy’s garment, all the details of the work making up one of the most extraordinary effects of cold ever produced in painting.’
Gustave Geffroy, quoted in Pissarro's People (exhibition catalogue), Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, San Francisco & Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 2011-12, p. 217
Gelée blanche, jeune paysanne faisant du feu is one of Pissarro’s great masterpieces. Painted in 1888 at the peak of the artist’s engagement with Neo-Impressionism and conceived on a grand scale, it is a brilliant rendering of light and atmosphere.