Camille Pissarro 1830-1903
Deux paysannes assises, c. 1890
Signed 'C.P' lower right
Pencil and chalk on paper
16
1
⁄
8
x 23 ½ in, 41.5 x 59.8 cm
Provenance
Stern Studio, Tel Aviv (0774)
Christie's, London, 23 June 1997, lot 25
Stern Pissarro Gallery, London
Private Collection (acquired from the above in February 2003)
Literature
This work is accompanied by a letter of expertise from
Alma Egger, on behalf of Dr Joachim Pissarro, dated
12 March 2025
Deux paysannes assises is a large drawing by Camille Pissarro created
when the artist was focused upon depictions of women in the
landscape. Seen at work, or more often at rest, this series celebrated
rural life.
Some ten years before creating Deux paysannes assises there was
a decided shift in Pissarro's pictorial style. The landscape became
secondary to the figure within his art, creating works that drew closer
to portraits.
In Deux paysannes assises the two women inhabit the entire space.
Drawn in rural dress, the figures are removed from any environment
with Pissarro instead experimenting with attitudes of the body. The
drawing is a preparatory study for a gouache titled Les Bergères. The
pose of the figure in the left hand side of the painting is near identical to
that of the figure in the right of the present drawing. Pissarro created a
great number of paintings of seated women at this time, with the poses
of the women in Deux paysannes assises being highly characteristic of
his work and seen in a number of compositions.
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