LUCIEN PISSARRO (1863-1944)

End of the Village, Dardennes has remained with the same family since it was acquired directly from the artist. To see it now is revelatory as a wonderful example of Pissarro’s Provence paintings. The village of Dardennes lay close to Campagne Orovida, Pissarro’s house in Provence, which he had bought early in 1929 and named after his daughter, Orovida Camille Pissarro. The region plays a very notable part in Pissarro’s work, and his frequent visits throughout the 1920s and 1930s brought wonderfully observed pictures inflected with the brilliant light and heat of the south of France.

Diffused with a soft, warm light, End of the Village, Dardennes is exquisitely painted, with dancing, light brushwork and subtle colouring. Painted in April 1931, the scene looks down between the trees to glimpsed rooftops, while vineyards rise up on the opposite hillside. The horizon is out of view and the composition appears informal, placing the viewer within the landscape. Across the picture plane colours gently oscillate between tones of red and green, as the scene travels from grassy banks to a worn path, terracotta rooftops and trees, sun-baked ground and hedgerows. Pissarro’s handling of composition and colour is highly sophisticated, perhaps aware of new developments in painting in London and Paris while remaining true to the principles of impressionism. It is a quietly dazzling scene that rewards close inspection.