Street in Upper Norwood

Painted in 1871 and now in the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, this canvas records a street in Upper Norwood, south London — made during Pissarro's wartime exile in England. He had fled the Franco-Prussian War with his family, settling in Norwood where he could observe the comfortable Victorian suburb. During this period he was profoundly influenced by Turner, Constable, and the English watercolor tradition, all of which deepened his understanding of atmospheric light. Upper Norwood's tree-lined streets, Victorian villas, and English grey-green light provided subjects distinctly different from the Pontoise landscape he had left behind. This work was one of the first he made that showed the full impact of his English experience.

The English grey-green light, cooler and more diffuse than the Mediterranean and Île-de-France light Pissarro knew, creates a particular tonality: subdued greens, pale ochre, and gentle grey. His technique here shows the influence of English atmospheric painting — softer edges, more tonal graduation than his subsequent more fully developed Impressionist touch.