Having achieved critical and commercial acclaim for his rural landscapes and country scenes, from 1893 onwards Pissarro embarked on a series of urban cityscapes of Paris, Rouen, Dieppe and Le Havre which would come to dominate his œuvre during the last decade of his life. Pissarro’s prolific output from this period earned him the reputation of preeminent urban Impressionist. The artist spent extended periods of t.mes in Paris, focusing on a particular view for several months at a t.mes in order to capture the changing effects of light, air and urban life. During this ten-year period, Pissarro completed several series depicting iconic Parisian landmarks, including Boulevard Montmartre (fig. 1), Avenue de l’Opera, Jardin de Tuileries and the area around Pont-Neuf, which is the subject of the present composition.

Pissarro’s ‘cityscapes’ were inspired by Monet’s series depicting Rouen Cathedral, which were executed in 1892-94 and first exhibited in their entirety at Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris in 1895. Scholars have highlighted the profound effect these works had on Pissarro, who singled them out in the letters to his son Lucien for the striking visual impact they made when viewed altogether: ‘I so wish that you could have seen this as a whole, for I find in it a superb unity that I have been seeking for so long. I find the whole thing so important that I came only to see it’ (Letter from the artist to Lucien Pissarro, 1st June 1895, quoted in Richard R. Brettell & Joachim Pissarro, The Impressionist and the City: Pissarro’s Series Paintings, New Haven & London, 1992, p. xi).

The artist’s urban scenes need to be equally viewed in the context of works by other Impressionists who depicted Paris as it underwent radical changes following the reconfiguration project led by Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann in the 1850s-1870s, among them Renoir and Caillebotte (figs. 2 & 3). Their modernist vision, manifesting itself through inventive perspectives and unorthodox choices of subject-matter was in turn affected by the invention of photography in 1840, with ‘photographic seeing’ opening a ‘new way of appropriating reality’ (Gustave Caillebotte: An Impressionist and Photography (exhibition catalogue), Munich, 2012, p. 20).

Illustrating one of the several distinct perspectives Pissarro focused on in this series, the present work shows a relatively tight compositional crop which zooms in on the statue of Henri IV, the Hôtel de la Monnaie and the dome of the Académie Française. This particular composition is distinct in its focus on the dichotomy between the grand urban architecture and the vegetation of the Square du Vert Galant. The trees partially obscuring the background represent a recurring motif within the wider Impressionist œuvre, employed among others by Monet (fig. 4). Statue d'Henri IV et hôtel de la Monnaie, matin ensoleillé is emblematic of the Place Dauphine series as a whole in its relative tranquillity, with the emphasis on the bustle and energy of city life replaced here by a more contemplative focus (figs. 5, 6 & 7). The effects of the softly diffused morning light and the smoke rising from the barges are achieved through the generous employment of white pigment, which became the artist’s signature trait during this period.

Pissarro’s urban paintings, of which Statue d'Henri IV et hôtel de la Monnaie, matin ensoleillé is a striking example, are among his most important contributions to Impressionism. These works are emblematic of what Joachim Pissarro referred to as the ‘notion of sequentiality’ – ‘the multiplication of representations of a given site as its aspects change’ – which lies at the very heart of the movement’s ethos (ibid., p. xxxviii). The freshness and vigour of these works are equally a test.mes nt to the incessant curiosity and openness to experimentation which defined the entirety of Pissarro’s creative career.