In its light gradations, verdant landscape and themes of concealment, Forêt tropicale could be mistaken for a masterwork of Magic Realism. However, Camille Pissarro’s evocation of the tropical Caribbean landscape in fact predates the surrealist movement by over half a century.

Born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands), Pissarro was sent to school in France, but returned to Venezuela aged 21, where he finally resolved to become a professional painter. He filled up sketchbooks with observations of local inhabitants, villages and vegetation, which he then developed into large oils on his return to Paris. These canvases are a lesser-known part of his output, overshadowed by his later mastery of Impressionism. However, they attest to a truly unique imaginative vision, which anticipates Pissarro’s continued engagement with the effects of light and creation of atmosphere.