Camille Pissarro Fathered a Family & Impressionism

By Lauren Thompson

el 2 de Junio de 2025

Lauren Thompson is Senior Interpretive Specialist for European and American Art in the Learning and Engagement department at the Denver Art Museum.

Camille Pissarro may be known as the “father of Impressionism,” but his role as a father to his children was vitally important and rewarding to the artist. Pissarro and his wife Julie had eight children together over a period of 20 years—the first was Lucien, and the last, Paul-Émile, who arrived when Julie was 45 years old and Camille was 54. The family endured several tragedies, with children, young and grown, dying from illness, and this deeply affected the artist. He doted on his children and their education, and his surviving letters give us an intimate glimpse into his relationships with them.

Pissarro’s letters to his oldest son Lucien, in particular, create an intimate portrait of the artist—revealing his worries, complaints, hopes, and advice. Although his correspondence was never intended to be read by the public, they allow us a personal, and often unexpected, glimpse into his life.

photo of Pissarro and his family on a mound of wheat — The Pissarro family in the fields at Éragny, about 1886. Georges and Félix stand on top, Lucien and Ludovic-Rodolphe sit at center, and the maid Juliette[?], Camille, Julie, Paul-Émile, Jeanne, and Eugénie Estruc are seated below.

photo of Camille Pissarro and 2 of his adult sons — Lucien and Felix Pissarro with their father Camille Pissarro in 1897.

painting of a little girl sitting in a chair wearing a pink dress and a hat with a blue ribbon and holding a bouquet of flowers — *Portrait of Jeanne Pissarro*, 1872. Oil paint on canvas. Yale University Art Gallery: John Hay Whitney, BA 1926, MA (Hon.) 1956 Collection, 1982.111.4. This painting will be on view in the Pissarro exhibition at the DAM this fall.

Over the years Pissarro watched and reported on the children’s artistic development with delight. His letters are full of proud descriptions. In 1889, when his 18-year-old son Georges was in London to study decorative woodcarving at an arts and crafts school, Pissarro wrote to him about his younger siblings:

"Titi [then 15] works with me every day at the studio, he makes his study quite well, with a very steady hand... he hasn't yet understood values, it will come; he loafs, he still likes to play, to run, it's natural for his age…Rodolphe [11] is still the same, grumpy, philosophical, he is busy with his little men, nothing else, he has not taken to serious studies yet…Paul-Émile [five] makes spider legs, which in his imagination become cars, horses, drivers, hens, birds, etc., etc. Cocotte [eight] sews and nurses her doll."

A month later, Pissarro sees progress: "Titi always draws, a little lazy, still loving sports passionately, never mind, he progresses, little by little," he wrote Georges.

The Pissarros’ constant lack of money, however, led to disagreement between Camille and Julie about how to raise their children. Concerns about their eldest son Lucien’s future was an ongoing issue. Julie believed he should get a paying job to help the family, while Camille encouraged his focus on making art. In 1884, Camille wrote to Lucien:

“Your mother is very worried…she says that I’m pushing you toward art rather than to think about earning a living; I don’t know if I’m wrong.”

In the end, six of their children became artists!

Pissarro’s letters to his children are filled with fatherly advice and encouragement. In 1891, Pissarro wrote to Lucien, who was finding some modest success:

Now this is my advice…I have tried what I recommend, it is worth following: when you feel the impulse to make something, do it no matter what the cost…you can be sure of reward. So rare a thing is it to have a desire that it is one’s duty to act on it, and at once, for desire evaporates if one delays. Forward, go to it! Be advised, act!

Pissarro continued to encourage his children to find their own artistic voice. On June 7, 1893, he wrote to Lucien:

It is my hope that now you find yourself back in London, you will concentrate energetically on your studies and be able to give free play to your sensations. I am most anxious to see where you are going, the knowledge you have more than justifies your being self-confident. The superb work you did as an engraver proves this, your problem is to discover an execution appropriate to your spirit. Do not permit yourself to be discouraged. Do not overdevelop a critical sense, and trust your sensations blindly.

Although the family house in Éragny was always loud and chaotic with children running around, as they grew up, Pissarro lamented the looming empty nest that was coming. He wrote to Lucien on October 20, 1895:

And I really want to go to Paris and see what is happening there. Despite a great sweep of work, I am very bored in Éragny…Is it anxiety about money, the fact that the coming winter already makes itself felt, weariness with the same old motifs, or my lack of data for the figure paintings I am doing in the studio? It is partly due to all these things, but what hurts me most is seeing the whole family breaking up, little by little. Cocotte is gone, soon will be Rodo! Can you see us two old people, alone in this great house all winter?

The last year of his life, Pissarro took up an apartment in Paris, large enough for Julie and the children to join him there as he finished two series of paintings. After coming down quickly with an illness, his adult children rushed to dote on him and help their mother. At the age of 73, he passed away, surrounded by his children.