The Little Bridge, Pontoise 1875

Camille Pissarro painted The Little Bridge, Pontoise, using oil on canvas. Pissarro’s energetic brushwork really animates the canvas, giving life to the foliage, trees, and water. The textures he creates are quite broad, the result of applying paint in thick layers. It’s clear that he was invested in the materiality of paint itself. Although seemingly spontaneous, Pissarro’s landscape actually reflects a great deal of labor. The canvas would have been primed with gesso, and each color mixed carefully. And of course, the repeated strokes required intense concentration and effort. Even a composition that seems artless—a simple view of nature—is always the product of skilled and painstaking work. This attention to materiality and making expands our understanding of the artwork beyond just its aesthetic qualities. It also speaks to the wider social context in which art is produced.