Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009320The Lock at Pontoise
About the Artwork
Pissarro was instrumental in developing the radically new Impressionist technique of painting quickly outdoors to capture fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. The rushing water and overcast sky in this view of a river lock near the artist’s home at Pontoise, a rural commune about 17 miles northwest of Paris, are rendered with rapid, broken brushstrokes of pure color. Painting directly on canvas without preliminary drawing, Pissarro may have executed this work in a single session. The shimmering surface of broken color conveys the sensation of natural, outdoor light.
Inscriptions
Signed lower left: C. Pissarro 1872
Provenance
Until 1900: Charles Guasco 1900: (Guasco sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 11, 1900 (no. 60), sold to Louis Schoengrün, Paris 1900-1901: Louis Schoengrün, Paris 1901: (Schoengrün sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Feb. 7, 1901 (no. 27), sold to Max Behrendt) 1901-at least 1939: Max Behrendt, Paris ?: Possibly Gouin collection, Paris Until 1951: Mrs. Carmona, sold to Wildenstein 1951-1955: (Wildenstein & Co., New York, sold to Eleanor Allen Cunningham) 1955-1961: Eleanor Allen (Lamont) Cunningham [1910-1961], Hartford, CT, by descent to her son, Charles Cunningham, Jr 1961-: Charles Cunningham, Jr. Until 1990: (Artemis Fine Arts/David Carritt, Ltd., London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) 1990-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991). Masters of Impressionism. Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico (November 17, 1998-February 28, 1999). Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Beijing World Art Museum (May 26-August 27, 2006); Mori Art Center (September 16-November 26, 2006); Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 15-June 1, 2008); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (June 22-September 21, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009). Paul Durand-Ruel and Impressionism. Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, France (October 15, 2014-February 8, 2015); National Gallery, London, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (March 4-May 31, 2015); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (June 18-September 13, 2015). Camille Pissarro - The First Among the Impressionists. Musée Marmottan Monet, 75016, Paris, France (organizer) (February 23-July 16, 2017). Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021). The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro's Impressionism. Museum Barberini, Potsdam, Germany (organizer) (June 14-September 28, 2025); Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (October 26, 2025-February 8, 2026).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Camille Pissarro (French, 1830–1903)
- Date
- 1872
- Medium
- oil on fabric
- Dimensions
- Framed: 76.8 x 105.7 x 11.4 cm (30 1/4 x 41 5/8 x 4 1/2 in.); Unframed: 53 x 83 cm (20 7/8 x 32 11/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1990.7
More by Camille Pissarro in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009320
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