Pissarro, Camille (1830-1903)
Cocotiers au Bord de la Mer, St. Thomas (Coconut Palms by the Sea, St. Thomas)
1856
Oil on canvas, 26.67 × 34.93 cm
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
This is one of several pictures Pissarro painted of his birthplace, St. Thomas, after moving to France in 1855. Pissarro was essentially self-taught, and Cézanne later commented, “He had the good fortune to be born in the Antilles. There he learnt to draw without masters.” Nearly twenty years later, the Impressionists engaged with Pissarro’s interests in direct observation of nature and light, discernible here, and the artist became the only Impressionist to exhibit in each of the eight group shows. (VMFA)