The Paintings of Camille Pissarro, the 'First Impressionist,' Are Finally Getting the Attention They Deserve

“The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro’s Impressionism,” the first major U.S. exhibition of the artist in 40 years, is now open at the Denver Art Museum

Mary Randolph - Staff Contributor

November 19, 2025 11:57 a.m.

The Garden of Les Mathurins, property of the Deraismes Sisters, Pontoise, Camille Pissarro, 1876 akg-images / De Agostini Picture Lib. / J. E. Bulloz

Known as the father of the Impressionist movement, Camille Pissarro was an early pioneer of the style and a mentor to those who came after him, including Claude Monet and Paul Cézanne. But despite his accomplishments, other Impressionists consistently receive more public attention and fetch more money at auction. Now, Pissarro is getting his first major exhibition in the United States in 40 years.

Called “The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro’s Impressionism,” the retrospective is now open at the Denver Art Museum and features nearly 100 works of Pissarro’s, as well as personal letters to peers and family members.

“Pissarro had a hopefulness,” says Angelica Daneo, the show’s co-curator, to Colleen Smith of the Denver Gazette. “He knew turbulent times with personal and economic difficulties, political tensions. Yet through his paintings, his letters, his actions, he showed an unwavering hopefulness and a willingness to go on. There’s a lot to learn from Pissarro—more than from other artists who are more guarded—something very inspiring one can apply to wherever they are in life.”

Self-Portrait, Camille Pissarro, 1873 akg-images / Laurent Lecat

The exhibition spans the artist’s lifetime, which started in what are now the U.S. Virgin Islands and took him to Caracas and Venezuela before he arrived in Paris in 1855. There, he contributed to the birth of the Impressionist movement.

“Pissarro was a true architect of the Impressionist movement. His colleague and friend Cézanne called him ‘the first Impressionist,’” says Clarisse Fava-Piz, associate curator of European and American art before 1900 at the Denver Art Museum, in a statement.

“Pissarro was a defining figure whose oeuvre captured a changing society in the throes of industrialization, straddling the rural and urban in his depictions of daily life.”

Quick fact: The eight Impressionist exhibitions

Camille Pissarro was the only artist to display his paintings in all eight of the Impressionist exhibitions between 1874 and 1886.

While some Impressionists focused on rural or idyllic scenes, Pissarro centered everyday life in his work, including domestic scenes and depictions of agrarian life.

“For me, Monet is a painter of the eternal Sunday,” Christoph Heinrich, the Denver Art Museum’s director, tells the New York Times’ Michael Janofsky. “Pissarro was a painter of the rest of the week.”

The Denver museum is staging the exhibition in collaboration with the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. The partnership started with a Monet exhibition in 2019, which set attendance records in Denver, the Times reports. That show inspired the creation of the Pissarro exhibition, which opened in Potsdam before traveling to Denver.

Hoar-Frost, Peasant Girl Making a Fire, Camille Pissarro, 1888 akg-images / Laurent Lecat

The museum selected the title, “Honest Eye,” to highlight Pissarro’s authenticity.

“We’re so used to images that are tinkered with, Photoshopped or now completely carried away with what A.I. does,” Heinrich tells the Times. “Here we have someone who was 100 percent determined to show something exactly the way he saw it. There’s a trust, an honesty, an authenticity in it. That’s exceptional, and it’s something we can learn from.”

“The Honest Eye: Camille Pissarro’s Impressionism” will be on view at the Denver Art Museum through February 8, 2026.

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