Boulevard des Italiens Afternoon 1897

Camille Pissarro painted "Boulevard des Italiens, Afternoon" towards the end of his career, immortalizing a bustling Parisian street scene in a flurry of impressionistic strokes. Painted from a high vantage point, the scene captures the energy of modern life. But who populates this space? The boulevard was a stage for the bourgeoisie, a place to see and be seen. Pissarro, who identified as an anarchist, was deeply concerned with class and the lives of ordinary people. He once said "It is with thick layers of paint that one must convey feelings, sensations, all that passes before our eyes". Here, he uses those thick layers to depict the fashionably dressed, whose identities are somewhat obscured, suggesting a society that values appearances. Notice the absence of the working class in this representation, and consider what Pissarro is including, and excluding, from this modern landscape. The painting becomes less about the specifics of Parisian life and more about capturing a fleeting moment in time, filtered through the artist’s own socio-political awareness.