Style Imitating Art | “The Boulevard Montmartre at Night” by Camille Pissarro

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, and Marsha of Marsha in the Middle. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as presenter, selects an inspiration image that they will each post on their blogs. The following Monday, each host shares her art inspired outfit. Participants are invited to submit their art inspired outfits to the presenter by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the presenter will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join either! In fact, you don’t even have to join but you can still use the art to inspire an outfit just for the sake of trying something different. If you want to share your inspired outfit, we invite you do so on Instagram or any other social media platform that you prefer. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Shelbee, or Marsha or use #TeamLOTSStyle and #StyleImitatingArt so the hosts know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

This Week’s Presenter

It was Marsha’s turn to choose the inspirational artwork this week. She loves Impressionist paintings because they appeal to her eternally romantic side so she went searching for Impressionist artists who are a little lesser known than the big names in Impressionism like Renoir, Monet, van Gogh, Degas, and Cézanne. She decided on an 1897 oil painting by Danish-French Impressionist painter, Camille Pissarro. You can read more about how Marsha came upon this painting here.

The Artwork

“The Boulevard Montmartre at Night” by Camille Pissarro

About the Artist: Camille Pissarro

“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.“

Camille Pissarro

Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter, Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro was born on the island of St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies (now the U.S. Virgin Islands) on July 10, 1830, to Frederick Abraham Gabriel Pissarro and Rachel Manzano-Pomié. His father was a French national of Portugese-Jewish descent and his mother was from a French-Jewish family in St. Thomas. His father was a merchant who had come to St. Thomas to deal with a hardware store that belonged to his deceased uncle. He ended up marrying his uncle’s widow which caused quite a stir in their small Jewish community because Jewish law forbade a man from marrying his aunt. They got married anyway and four children were born of the union.

At the age of 12, Pissarro’s father sent him to a boarding school in France where he developed an early appreciation of the French art masters. At the age of 16 or 17, Pissarro returned to St. Thomas to work as a port clerk for his father’s business. During the next five years, he would practice drawing during his work breaks and after work. Inspired by Danish artist Fritz Melbye, Pissarro turned to painting as a full time profession when he was just 21 years old. He eventually left the family business and moved to Venezuela with Melbye where they spent the next two years working as artists. During this time, Pissarro drew everything he could, filling up multiple sketchbooks.

Pissarro moved back to Paris in 1855 where he worked as an assistant to Melbye’s brother, Anton, who was also a painter. He studied other artists and took various classes taught by masters but eventually found their methods stifling which led him to seek alternative instruction. He requested and received the desired education from French painter Camille Corot. Pissarro’s first painting was accepted and exhibited in 1859 at the Paris Salon.

In 1871, Pissarro married Julie Vellay in Croydon, England. She was the daughter of a vineyard grower and his mother’s maid. Together the couple had eight children. One died at birth and another daughter died at the age of 9. The six surviving children all became painters.

In his older years, Pissarro suffered from a chronic eye infection that prevented him from working outdoors except during warm weather. Due to this disability, he began painting outdoor scenes from upper level rooms in hotels in London and Paris where he could get a broader view of the landscape from indoors. He died in Paris on November 13, 1903, at the age of 73.

About the Art: “The Boulevard Montmartre at Night”

“Everything is beautiful, all that matters is to be able to interpret.”

Camille Pissarro

This painting is one of 14 different views of the Boulevard Montmartre in Paris that Pissarro created in 1897. Perhaps inspired by the painting series of Monet, Pissarro planned to paint the Boulevard Montmartre during all four seasons as well as at various time of day and in different weather conditions. “The Boulevard Montmartre at Night” is the only example of a night painting by Pissarro. 

The National Gallery offers the following description of this painting.

“Pissarro was especially fascinated by the different types of artificial light, which are reflected on the wet pavements. The cool white of the newly installed electric street lamps along the centre of picture contrasts with the warm yellow gaslight of the shop windows and the oil-burning lamps of the cabs that line the street. The brushstrokes have an almost abstract gestural quality, as Pissarro applied the paint as a patchwork of dashes and daubs to suggest the passing crowds and traffic, and the city’s shimmering lights.”

The National Gallery

The painting is oil on canvas and measures 53.3 × 64.8 cm (21 x 25.5 in). It was purchased in 1925 by the Courtauld Fund and is housed but not currently on display at The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London.

References/Resources:

• Camille Pissarro: Wikipedia
• Boulevard Montmartre at Night by Camille Pissarro
• The National Gallery: The Boulevard Montmartre at Night by Camille Pissarro

About My Outfit

My initial idea for this outfit included this kimono because it has the right colors and the print is very Impressionistic. But the colors are not in the right proportions, the print is floral which didn’t seem appropriate, and I simply could not figure how to style it in a way that accurately represented the painting. So I tossed that idea right out the window. And into my closet room I went to find my inspiration.

My eye was first drawn to this midnight blue maxi sundress because the color is pretty much a perfect match to the night sky in the painting. And because a robe over a maxi dress is my standard outfit formula these days, I consulted my kimono collection and landed on this yellow chiffon robe which appears to have Impressionist looking clouds in the print. The gold color with the wisps of white seemed like a competent interpretation of the yellow and white glows dispersed throughout this nighttime view of the Boulevard Montmartre.

Because the painting is depicting nighttime and there is an abundance of heavy black shadows throughout the scene, I accessorized with black in my typical boho cowgirl fashion…black cowgirl boots, black straw hat, black woven belt, and a black Halftee. I incorporated pearls and a heart in my necklaces and earrings because Paris is the City of Love.

My bag is purple because it is the bag I have been carrying since I received it in December. I do not have the patience for changing bags.

How did I do? It was another successful challenge, in my opinion. I never would have paired these pieces together but I absolutely love the resulting outfit.

I hope you have enjoyed my interpretation of this painting and feel inspired to play along! Be sure to check out Marsha’s sartorial interpretation of the artwork as well as Salazar’s take on it.

If you want to participate in this challenge and create your own outfit inspired by Pissarro’s “The Boulevard Montmartre at Night”, please submit your photos to Marsha (mlrbanks57@gmail.com) by 10:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, and she will feature your outfit in her review post on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.

Until then, happy styling! 

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee

Joining these Fabulous Link Parties.

Outfit Details: Dress-Old Navy / Robe-Kohl’s / Boots-Durango / Hat-Wona Trading / Bag-Teddy Blake / Belt-Torrid / Jewelry-Old