Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) studied from great forerunners, including Gustave Courbet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. In 1884, Pissarro first moved to Eragny-sur-Epte, located sixty miles north of Paris and very close to Normandy. This tiny village, consisting of only a few houses set on either side of a main road, and its surroundings of meadows and farmland would become a predominant subject in the artist’s work for the next twenty years. In as many as 200 paintings as well as in hundreds of drawings and watercolors on this motif, Pissarro captured the beauty of the meadows, poplars and river of this confined area that he called home for the remainder of his life.

In his views of Eragny, recorded atmospheric, seasonal and climatic changes and their impact on the landscape through various means of pictorial representation. His early work from this period, from about 1884 until about 1890, shows the influence of Neo-Impressionism in the precise, detached brushwork. After 1890, however, Pissarro moves away from pointillism towards freer brushstrokes and a broader palette. More importantly, this change meant that Pissarro was able to return to working directly from nature, whereas before, the painstaking technique of pointillism required the artist to work primarily in the studio. 

Throughout his life, Pissarro always shown a high regard for the work of younger artists. From 1872-1882 he worked with Cézanne, with Gauguin from 1879-1883, and then with Signac and notably Georges Seurat from 1886-1900, sharing a brief interest in Neo-Impressionism.