Pissarro: Father of Impressionism

Camille Pissarro (1830–1903) is one of the most celebrated artists of 19th-century France and a central figure in Impressionism. Considered a father-figure to many in the movement, his work was enormously influential for many artists, including Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne.This exhibition of works from the Ashmolean's collections as well as international loans, spanning Pissarro's entire career.

It features 120 works, 80 by Pissarro and 40 by his friends and contemporaries, with eight paintings on display for the first time in this country. The exhibition draws on the Ashmolean's Pissarro archive, the world’s largest collection devoted to an Impressionist artist, revealing intimate and fascinating details about Pissarro, his artist-friends and relatives. It aims to show him as the galvanising force that propelled modern art forward and without whom there would have been no Impressionism. 

Camille Pissarro, Design for a fan: The pea stakers, 1890, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.