La lessive à Éragny (Washing day at Éragny ) 1901

La lessive à Éragny was painted in Éragny-sur-Epte, a small village in Normandy to the north of Paris, and depicts two women hang their washing outdoors in the sunshine. The paint — applied in small, heavily loaded brushstrokes — allowed Camille Pissarro to capture the light, colour and atmosphere of the moment.

Impressionism evolved from the practice of painting en plein air (out-of-doors), where artists were intrigued by the fugitive effects of light and drew their inspiration from everyday life. Throughout his practice, Pissarro kept a studio in Paris but spent long periods of time painting in the country, favouring rural scenes of people at work. He lived in the village of Éragny with his family from 1884 until his death in 1903.

Pissarro was the only artist among the Impressionists to exhibit in all eight Impressionism exhibitions, which took place in Paris between 1874 and 1886. Held in the highest regard by members of the French avant-garde — Paul Cézanne and Claude Monet were among his friends and greatest admirers — Pissarro was radical in artistic matters as well as in his politics. His late works, such as this one, have been interpreted in the context of debates occurring at the turn of the twentieth century about the relative virtues of rural life versus urbanisation.