Peasants In The Fields, By Camille Pissarro

Imagination is the seed of creation; much like impressionism, a movement freed from preconceived ideas and interpretive concerns, is the genesis of all modern art. It is through an analysis of Camille Pissarro’s Peasants in the Fields, Éragny and Apple Picking at Éragny-sur-Epte that one is provided an insight to his idiosyncratic expression of impressionist art. Pissarro’s revolutionary countryside paintings changed not only the way life was depicted but the way life was perceived—from one of Parisian conventions to a world of ideality. His social and political ideas were not expressed through harsh criticisms, rather, he exalted a positive outlook of proletariats and their simple life on land. As well, his work in the countryside provided

The artist often expressed this through his own medium—painting. Despite this, never did Pissarro depict anything overtly political in his work, as could be found in the art of fellow impressionists Renoir, Degas, and Cézanne. He separated the events of volatile times in daily life from his paintings, insofar as stating: “Despite the grave turn of affairs in Paris, despite all these anxieties, I must work at my window as if nothing has happened” (Pissarro, 332). In Peasants in the Fields, Éragny, the audience is presented with a piece that depicts workers in the sincerity of their nature and habits, accomplishing both their social and domestic duties (Shikes, 67). It lacks a subtextual attack on the Parisian aristocrats and bourgeoisie, and instead was made to positively exemplify the diligent lifestyle of rural laborers. Pissarro admired French peasantry and their small, self-sufficient communities (Kelly, 208) as he had depicted in this painting, embodying his aspiration for social equity (Watson, 208). This self-contained populace was a typified model for his ideal world; one in which class castes did not separate society. Although blatant in his attempts to keep politics separated from his artwork, it is perhaps this lack of criticism that made his message the most