1883 -1898 · bridges, quays, market and weather

In Rouen, Pissarro moves his window from one living room to another to observe the Seine, the bridges, the market on rue de l'Épicerie and the port traffic under each change of light.

Camille Pissarro returns to Rouen four times and transforms the city into a series laboratory. The first motifs give ample space to the river, the islands and industrial vapors. In 1896, from the Hôtel d'Anglais, it overlooked the Boieldieu bridge, the quays and Saint-Sever: carts, fireplaces and boats were part of a structure crossed by fog, rain or sunset. During his fourth stay in 1898, he looked for a new position on rue de l'Épicerie. The view with sun effect was the only one of his three versions to show the Friday market in operation, while the cathedral closed the horizon. Unlike Monet concentrated on a facade, Pissarro retains the human flow around the monument. Rouen thus becomes a lived city where Gothic architecture, commerce, industry and weather are measured in the same way. The "Rouen by Camille Pissarro" selection notably compares Rue de l'Épicerie, Rouen (Effect of the Sun) and Le Pont Boieldieu and Orléans station, Rouen, morning, sun. Its reading favors light.

The Rouen series does not repeat the city: it shows how much a bridge, a street or a quay changes with traffic and air.