Portail l'église Saint-Jacques à Dieppe

In the summer of 1901 the Jewish painter Camille Pissarro visited Dieppe, on the Normandy coast, with his family. He had been impressed by Claude Monet’s 1895 series of paintings of the facade of Rouen Cathedral at different times of day, and set out to explore the idea in his own paintings of the local Gothic church of Saint-Jacques. Pissarro was a master of the urban scene; here he uses a high Impressionist technique that blends realism with acute sensitivity to the effects of climate and light. He painted nine canvases on this visit, including various views of the church and the bustling market square. The emphasis in the Jewish Museum’s painting is on the solid mass of the medieval building in contrast with the evanescent groups of people observed on the path, under a dull gray sky.