Sol da Tarde, Pont Neuf

By 1901 Pissarro was 70 and his eyes were giving out. A recurring infection made dust, wind and bright sun dangerous for him, so he did what he had done in city after city: he rented rooms above the street and painted what he could see from the window. From the Ile de la Cite he looked down on the Pont Neuf, the oldest standing bridge in Paris, and watched it carry carriages and wagons between the big department stores of the Right Bank and the quieter island behind him. He painted the same view many times, in changing light and weather. Here the afternoon sun warms the crowd, and the Seine below runs in greens and mauves that no real river ever is.