On the Bank of the ravine de Saint-Antoine, L'Hermitage, Pontoise

On the Bank of the Ravine de Saint-Antoine, L'Hermitage, Pontoise at Ordrupgaard in Copenhagen, painted in 1876, shows the steep, chalk-banked ravine that was one of the more dramatic topographical features of the L'Hermitage hillside above Pontoise. Unlike Pissarro's habitual open-field and orchard subjects, the ravine offered a more enclosed, intimate subject with vertical rather than horizontal compositional possibilities. The Ordrupgaard collection, which holds several important Pissarro works from different periods of his career alongside its significant Manet holdings, acquired this Pontoise ravine study as evidence of the range of subjects he explored within his habitual territory. The chalk banks of the ravine — white, almost geological in their exposed nakedness compared to the organic abundance of the surrounding orchards — gave him a specifically unusual surface problem: the cool white of raw chalk against the warm greens of overhanging vegetation, an unusually stark tonal contrast for a painter whose natural palette ran to harmonious modulation rather than sharp opposition.

Pissarro uses vertical and diagonal compositional elements to render the ravine's depth — the bank sloping steeply and the trees leaning above it. The chalk bank is rendered in cool whites and pale greys. The foliage is built in varied, warm greens. The composition is intimate and enclosed, contrasting with his broader panoramic landscapes.