Paysage Avec Cheval Blanc Dans Un Pré, L’hermitage, Pontoise 1872

Camille Pissarro painted this oil on canvas landscape in France during the late 19th century. Pissarro’s canvas is built up of countless small brushstrokes. Applied alla prima, wet on wet, these dabs and dashes of pigment create a shimmering effect, almost as though the scene is alive with movement. The paint itself has a moderate impasto, meaning it stands up from the canvas slightly, catching the light and adding to the vibrancy of the composition. The use of oil paint was central to the Impressionist project, enabling artists to quickly capture the transient effects of light and atmosphere. But beyond its aesthetic qualities, oil paint also speaks to broader social and economic forces. It was a mass-produced material, readily available to artists of all backgrounds, and its use democratized the art world to a certain extent. So, next time you look at an Impressionist painting, consider not just the scene depicted, but also the material itself, and the ways in which it reflects the changing landscape of 19th-century society.