In April 1884 Pissarro moved to Éragny-sur-Epte, where he would mostly reside until his death in 1903. In this painting, a peasant woman trudges through the snow, her back to the viewer, her arms taut with the weight of two buckets. Pissarro combines here his sympathy for rural labourers with his interest in winter landscapes. Committed across several decades to humble rural scenes and flickering brushstrokes, Pissarro varied his touch from the broader Impressionist stroke to a more methodical Neo-Impressionist dot and back again. From the late 1880s, Pissarro suffered from an eye condition that made it difficult to work out-of-doors for long periods. He probably painted this scene from the window of his studio, a converted barn in Éragny.
Camille Pissarro
French (born in the Danish West Indies), 1830–1903
Morning Sunlight on the Snow, Éragny-sur-Epte 1895 (detail)
oil on canvas
82.3 x 61.6 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The John Pickering Lyman Collection—Gift of Miss Theodora Lyman (19.1321)
© 2025 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Reproduced with permission. All Rights Reserved.
