Image Description [ Edit | edit source ]

The picture shows the Rue de l'Épicerie in Rouen during a weekly market on a bright summer's day. The painter depicts the street from an elevated position, probably from the window of a building. In the background is the south side of the cathedral rising behind the houses.

The image is divided horizontally into three parts. In the lower third it shows the busy street and the market with its visitors. The numerous people are painted in little detail with short colored lines, so that they are perceived as a crowd. Individual facial features are just as unrecognizable as the type of displays at the market stalls. While individual, large umbrellas can be seen on the left edge of the picture, on the right side there are stands covered with tarpaulins that protect the goods from the sun.

The middle area shows the development of the street with the three- to four-storey residential buildings. The rows of houses are characterized by a row of shops on the ground floor, above which are several residential floors characterized by rows of windows. On the front side of the corner building on the Rue de l'Épicerie, numerous colored advertising boards are attached to the market, the lettering of which is illegible due to the cursory painting style. While in the front area on both sides flatter dark roofs, dormer windows and chimneys characterize the view, in the rear area the houses in front of the cathedral have pointed roof gables with red tiles. Above the roofs, the south side of the cathedral and the sky seen between and beside the towers occupy the top third of the image. Accordingly, only the areas of the building, which is richly decorated and decorated in light gray and brown tones, are visible that tower over the house gables. On the left rise the Tour Saint-Romain (Tower of Saint Romanus) and the Tour de Beurre (Tower of Butter), on the left theCentral nave and the high crossing tower, the spire of which is cut off from the upper edge of the picture. The sky above the scene is sunny light blue with white clouds.

The picture is signed in the lower left margin and inscribed in two lines with 'C. Pissarro / 1898“. ^[1]

Background and Genesis [ edit | edit source ]

Rue de l'Epicerie in Rouen, matin, temps mouillé

On August 19, 1898, Pissarro wrote to his son Lucien Pissarro that he had found a beautiful spot to paint the Rue de l'Épicerie in Rouen and also the weekly market that took place on Fridays, against the backdrop of the cathedral. ^[2] [3] Rue de l'Épicerie is one of the oldest and most well-known streets in the city and is dotted with 17th-century residences. It extends to the Place Haute-Vieille-Tour on the south side of Rouen Cathedral . ^[1] Pissarro had already painted a picture of the cathedral two years earlier (CR 1114), although he mainly concentrated on the cathedral. ^[4]He was referring to the well-known Rouen Cathedral series by Claude Monet . ^[4]

The picture Rue de l'Épicerie in Rouen, in Sunlight was created in a row as one of a series of three pictures, which he depicted at different times of the day and under different lighting conditions. Only in the picture Rue de l'Épicerie in Rouen, the weekly market is shown in sunlight , the other two pictures Rue de l'Épicerie in Rouen, matin, temps mouillé (currently on permanent loan from a private collection in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam ) ^{[ 5]} and Rue de l'Épicerie in Rouen, fin d'après-midi (currently on permanent loan from the Yoshino Gypsum Collection, Tokyo, in the Yamagata Museum of Art in Yamagata, Japan) ^[6] show the street without a market. ^[2] [3] In structure and perspective, Rue de l'Épicerie in Rouen, in sunlight corresponds to the morning scene at Rue de l'Épicerie in Rouen, matin, temps mouillé during Rue de l'Épicerie in Rouen, fin d'après- midi was painted from a slightly different perspective, where the southern transept of the cathedral is visible at the end of the street. ^[3]