A Corner of l’Hermitage, Pontoise 1878

Camille Pissarro painted this impressionist landscape in the late 19th century, capturing a moment in the French countryside. It's a scene filled with everyday life, but it also speaks to the complex social dynamics of the time. Pissarro, an artist with a radical political sensibility, often depicted rural settings and the lives of peasants, reflecting his anarchist sympathies and belief in social equality. In this painting, we see figures engaged in labor. Who are these workers? What are their stories? How does Pissarro portray them and their relationship to the land? What is the gendered division of labour? Unlike some of his contemporaries, Pissarro chose to focus on the lives of ordinary people, giving visibility to those often unseen or ignored. The painting becomes a subtle commentary on class and labor, inviting us to think about who holds power and whose stories are told, or not.