Near Eragny 1887

Camille Pissarro made this pastel drawing, entitled 'Near Eragny', in France at the end of the nineteenth century. The image is a depiction of the rural landscape surrounding the artist’s home in the small commune of Eragny-sur-Epte. Pissarro was deeply engaged with anarchist politics. The seeming simplicity of his rural landscapes, with their focus on labor and the changing seasons, can be understood as a self-conscious valuing of the local and the everyday, over and against the increasingly industrialised and urbanised world of modern France. He moved to Eragny to escape the pressures of the Parisian art world. This drawing creates meaning through its emphasis on the quiet beauty of the countryside, in contrast to the bustling city. To understand Pissarro better, one might research anarchist journals from the period, or the writings of contemporary art critics. It is through a careful consideration of its historical context that we can appreciate the social and political meaning of this seemingly simple work.