“Camille Pissarro: The Woods at Marly (1871)” (PDF on Moodle)

“Camille Pissarro: The Woods at Marly (1871)” (PDF on Moodle)

 

“The Woods at Marly” by Camille Pissarro shows a scene on a path in a forest. Pissarro uses mostly greens, yellows, and brownish reds, which convey a fall setting. The leaves are not green, but yellow, the path has dead brown leaves on it. The workers in the painting seem to be collecting wood, as one seems to be holding a bundle of logs or sticks. The painting itself makes you feel surrounded, and enclosed, despite being outside, because the trees connect above you. It doesn’t feel warm, but it’s not too cold, which you can tell from the clothing the workers are wearing, which isn’t too heavy. The painting has a lot of depth to it, because the trees feel layered, covering things behind them.

The workers appear to not be men, although this is not definite. The path is painted at an angle, or the path curves, which makes it feel like there is more forest on the right than the left. The path is dead, but the sides of the path show a less dead color, which means that the path is walked on a lot, it reminds me of “The Road Less Traveled” by Robert Frost.pissarro-la-fore%cc%82t-de-marly-1871

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