The Market Surrounding the Church of Saint-Jacques, Dieppe 1901

Camille Pissarro, that absolute legend, conjured this market scene in Dieppe with oils, probably standing right there in the thick of it. Look how he's built up the paint, dab after dab, creating a shimmering surface that buzzes with life! I can almost feel the jostle of the crowd, hear the vendors hawking their wares. Check out how Pissarro’s got this mix of architectural solidity with the ephemeral bustle of the market – the solid church on the left and then this energy on the right. What does the dance between permanence and fleeting moments mean, you know? I imagine Pissarro, squinting in the light, trying to capture the fleeting effects of the sun on the stalls and the faces, like he's saying, "I see you, little moment, and I'm gonna nail you down, kinda." It’s like he's in conversation with Turner’s light but also Courbet’s everyday realness, but then he has his own impressionist way of letting the paint do its thing, recording a moment in time, and how cool is that?