Portrait of the Artist's Mother 1888

Camille Pissarro painted this watercolor portrait of his mother at an unknown date. While it may seem like a simple family memento, it hints at the complex social position of artists in 19th-century France. Pissarro, an Impressionist, sought to represent modern life, often focusing on the working class. But here, he turns his attention to his own family. His mother, Julie, was of French-Jewish heritage, and the family’s religious identity played a role in their social standing. By creating this portrait, Pissarro brings his family into the realm of art, challenging the traditional hierarchies of subject matter within the Salon system, which favored historical and mythological scenes. To understand Pissarro's world better, one could examine exhibition reviews from the period, family letters, and studies of the Impressionist art market. In doing so, we might then reflect on the ways in which artists used their work to both represent and reshape their social reality.