The Crystal Palace
Technique: Giclée quality print
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"The Crystal Palace" by Camille Pissarro is a captivating painting that illustrates a lively street scene with a backdrop of the iconic Crystal Palace, a structure originally built for the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. The painting, done in 1871, is a wonderful example of Pissarro’s skilled impressionist technique, which captures the essence of the moment with a play of light and detail, devoid of the sharpness of realism.In the foreground, we see a wide boulevard flanked by trees and a low brick wall topped with potted plants, leading the viewer’s eye towards the large structure in the distance. The left side of the painting shows various figures and horse-drawn carriages, adding a sense of bustling activity to the scene. People of various ages walk along the pathway or gather in small groups, some seated on benches, which helps convey a casual, day-to-day atmosphere.The Crystal Palace itself is visible in the background, its massive glass and iron facade partly obscured by atmospheric haze, giving it a somewhat ethereal appearance. This contrasts with the more distinctly painted figures and objects in the foreground, highlighting Pissarro’s focus on the interaction between human activity and urban environment.
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Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing. — Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was born on St.Thomas (now the US Virgin Islands) to a Portuguese father and a Dominican mother. He went to Paris to study art at Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He was an early pioneer of pointillism and neo-impressionism and later became a mentor of many famous impressionist painters including Cezanne, Manet, Renoir, and Gauguin. His paintings depicted rural and urban French landscapes and lifestyle. Many of his works politically captured images of peasants and laborers. Today, he is considered the father of impressionism.