Place du Carrousel, Paris

Pissarro's 1900 view of the Place du Carrousel, painted from a hotel window overlooking the open square near the Tuileries, belongs to his late series of Parisian cityscapes executed from elevated vantage points. By the turn of the century Pissarro had developed a systematic approach to urban subjects: he would rent a room in a hotel with a suitable prospect and work through different weather conditions and times of day on the same scene. The Place du Carrousel was painted during his extended Paris stays, when eye problems prevented him from working outdoors. The National Gallery of Art's canvas shows the square in the busy middle of the day, carriages and pedestrians rendered as animated dots below.

From his elevated viewpoint Pissarro applies pointillist-influenced short strokes across the entire surface, treating the stone paving, the human figures, and the sky with a uniform systematic touch that unifies the scene optically. The elevated perspective eliminates the horizon and creates a tilted, patterned surface characteristic of his late urban series.