Fishpond Bottom 1915

Lucien Pissarro made this landscape, Fishpond Bottom, with oil on canvas, showing a vista of rolling fields. It feels like a process of layering and looking, trying to capture the light. I love how Pissarro used the paint, not too thick, but with enough body to catch the light. The colors are muted, greens and grays, but there's a vibrancy in the way they're applied. Look at the way the fields roll into one another, there is a real rhythm happening. There is a spot near the horizon where the green fields meet the gray sea, and Pissarro's treatment is really beautiful and evocative. It feels like he’s trying to capture the fleeting nature of light and atmosphere, almost like Monet. What I love about painting is that it's always a conversation with the past, a way of seeing the world through someone else's eyes.