At the Window, rue des Trois Frères

Camille Pissarro composed this pastel in front of a window in his apartment in the Montmartre district of Paris. He used his wife Julie as a model, as well as two young girls, who possibly memorialize his recently deceased daughters. Pissarro created many works at his rural residences outside of Paris, but in this pastel he embraced the interior—yet visibly urban—setting of his rented home. Even indoors, Pissarro found a way to investigate the effects of natural light, which is characteristic of his Impressionist style.