Avenue de l'Opera Morning Sunshine 1898

Camille Pissarro created "Avenue de l'Opera Morning Sunshine" in the late 19th century with oil on canvas. Pissarro, born in the Danish West Indies, often explored themes of everyday life and the working class, bringing a unique perspective to the Impressionist movement. Here, we witness a bustling Parisian street, teeming with the energy of early morning. The wide avenue, newly constructed as part of Haussmann's urban plan, symbolizes a modernizing Paris, yet the figures within it—the workers, the bourgeois—suggest a society still navigating issues of class and representation. Pissarro's choice to paint from an elevated vantage point flattens the composition. The figures look less like individuals, and more like a collective, which evokes a feeling of anonymity. As Pissarro once said, "Everything is beautiful, all that matters is to be able to interpret." Here, he interprets a moment of transition, capturing the pulse of a city grappling with its identity. What do you think? Does Pissarro's painting romanticize or critique this new vision of Paris?