Marché Aux Poissons, Dieppe 

Camille Pissarro made this watercolor of the Dieppe fish market in France at the end of the nineteenth century. Pissarro was deeply engaged with representing the lives of ordinary people and took an interest in the traditions of rural labor. Here, we see men and women gathered to sell the day's catch. Pissarro’s loose brushstrokes and muted colors give us a sense of the bustling energy of the market and an authentic representation of working-class life. This aesthetic approach was embraced by a generation of artists who were reacting against academic artistic institutions. Understanding the social and economic context in which Pissarro was working helps us to appreciate the radical nature of his artistic project. Archival materials, such as letters and exhibition reviews, offer further insight into the ways Pissarro challenged traditional hierarchies and celebrated the dignity of labor.