La fabbrica a Pontoise

By 1873 railways and new factories were pushing out from Paris into the countryside, and Pissarro, living in Pontoise on the river Oise, painted what was in front of him. Most of his fellow Impressionists were after gardens and boating parties. He gave two tall factory chimneys the same calm attention, set across a band of green riverbank and bright water, one of the first signs of heavy industry reaching this quiet market town. A year later Pissarro would help organize the very first Impressionist exhibition in Paris, where a subject this ordinary still looked like a provocation.