Pont de la Clef in Bruges, Belgium

Camille Pissarro 1831 - 1903

Summary

A riverbank scene, painted in an Impressionist style, showing the Pont de la Clef and the quai des Ménétriers at Bruges, Belgium. Passers-by promenade along the quai to the left, and figures recline on the grassy, tree-lined slopes to the right. The outline of the parish church of Saint Jacques appears in the background. The dark building with a small lantern on the left is the former Chapelle des Ménétriers.

Display Label

Old Bridges at Bruges 1903 Camille Pissarro 1830-1903 Oil on canvas This late work by one of the famous Impressionists blends Impressionist and Pointillist techniques as Valette sometimes did in his street scenes. Pissarro uses many small dabs of brightly coloured paint to add density to his carefully constructed composition and give a shimmering effect to its surface. From about 1895 his eyesight deteriorated and he gave up painting out of doors. Many of Pissarro's later works are town views painted from windows, as this one may be. He died blind the same year it is dated. Gift of Mrs Lucien Pissarro 1946.69