Grape Picker

Grape Picker - Technique and Styles

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Grape Picker
1875-1876
Camille Pissarro

The scene again shows Pissarro's inclination to paint "humble" themes from nature, without idealization or unusual settings. He paints landscapes enriched with architecture, where people have grown close to nature through their simple life and unassuming presence.

Pissarro painted similar scenes of field work, dominated by women in various everyday jobs, while he was a guest of his friend, the artist Ludovico Piette in Montfoucault (Mayenne) in Brittany. Pressed by poverty, Pissarro accepted Pietto's hospitality and he and his family spent the winter of 1874/75, and the autumns of 1875 and 1876, on Piette's farm. It was probably on one of those autumn days that this scene from the grape harvest was painted.