In the early 1870s, a new trend appeared in French art – impressionism. The main genre of this painting movement was the landscape. The artwork of Camille Pissarro, the only artist to participate in all 8 impressionist exhibitions, is the brightest example of the rise of the impressionist landscape.
Pissarro was considered to be the most “peasant” artist because of his passion for painting the countryside with its fields and fences, gardens and huts. Continuing the trend started by Jean-Francois Millet, the artist understood peasants’ labor as an integral part of nature. Pissarro always combined the spontaneity of observation with the clear, thoughtful planning of his compositional spatial choices. The same trend can be observed in his painting Ploughed Land. In this landscape, painted near Pontoise during the year when the First Impressionist Exhibition took place in Paris, the artist turned to a motif reminiscent of Millet’s works. The balanced and calm composition and the subtle colors of predominantly gray and brown give the painting a chambered feel in the spirit of the Barbizon school artists. At the same time, the light and distinct brush strokes are a sign of the impressionist technique adopted by the artist.