Pont Neuf, Paris

In 1900, Pissarro took an apartment at 28 Place Dauphine on the Ile de La Cité in Paris, from which he undertook an extensive series of paintings of the surrounding views along the Seine. Pissarro's vantage point offered a plunging perspective that accentuated the steep difference of levels between rooftops, bridge, boats, and the river. In this painting of the Pont Neuf, which links the Ile de la Cité to the right bank, the brushwork is looser and the colors more unified than in his earlier pointillist compositions. By eliminating certain whites and thinning his mineral oil medium with turpentine, Pissarro was able to achieve purer colors and at the same time heighten the transparency of the hues. The evenly cast haze saturates every part of the picture. Painted "wet on wet," the different colors dissolve into each other, creating a subtle fusion of the natural elements.