Influence of the Landscape Theory of Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes on Camille Pissarro's The Tuileries Gardens and the Pavillon de Flore, Hoar-Frost : Pursuit of the Reconciliation of Fidelity to Nature and Artistic “Constructivity”

The Tuileries Gardens and the Pavillon de Flore, Hoar-Frost, painted by impressionist painter Camille Pissarro in 1900, clearly demonstrates Pissarro's attitude to artistic practices in his later life. In this picture, in addition to achieving the impressionist purpose of representing the fresh colors of nature, Pissarro pays attention to creating a solid composition, which proves his tendency toward the classical-landscape tradition. Taking this point into account, we wish to examine the artistic theory adopted in this painting. This paper begins by comparing Pissarro's Tuileries Gardens series, including the painting in question, with some series by Claude Monet: a pioneer of series paintings. While Monet exclusively pursued direct impressions of nature, Pissarro attached importance to creating compositional unity. Therefore, each painting in the Tuileries Gardens series establishes a self-sufficient image, whereas Monet's series has an inseparable relation as a group. In fact, Pissarro distinguished a “tableau” made through an artist's intellectual activity from an “étude, ” which is a direct record of nature. This paper asserts that the Tuileries Gardens series includes three “études” made as a preparatory step for tableaux.” This form of artistic production is similar to that of the academicians. In The Tuileries Gardens and the Pavillon de Flore, Hoar-Frost, in particular, the influence of Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes is evident. Given that Pissarro recommended to his son a landscape instruction book written by this neoclassical painter, it is highly possible that it played a great role in Pissarro's artistic formation. Through comparing Pissarro's methods in this painting with Valenciennes' text, this paper demonstrates that Valenciennes' book taught Pissarro various methods such as the ways of creating harmonious tones and composing fragments of nature on canvas. Finally, it concludes that Pissarro attained the reconciliation of fidelity to nature with artistic “constructivity” owing to Valenciennes' advice