Haymakers of Eragny

Haymakers of Eragny by Camille Pissarro French, 1830-1903, is a significant lithograph dating from the artist’s mature period, executed between 1891 and 1901. As a major figure in Impressionism, Pissarro spent his later career exploring graphic arts, and this piece demonstrates his mastery of the printing process. Rendered in black ink on cream wove paper, the print captures a powerful moment of agricultural labor near the artist’s home in Eragny-sur-Epte, a village in rural France that served as his primary inspiration for two decades.

The classification of this work as a fine print highlights Pissarro's commitment to techniques beyond oil painting. Unlike many of his earlier Impressionist colleagues, the artist used lithography and etching to refine and circulate specific compositional ideas, often lending his prints a structured, robust quality that contrasts with the fleeting effects sought in his canvases. The subject matter reflects Pissarro's enduring interest in rural life and the dignity of the working class, themes often linked to the artist’s own anarchist beliefs and social awareness.

The composition focuses on the rhythmic activity of the haymakers, whose forms are rendered with clarity and definition, demonstrating the influence of Neo-Impressionist principles on Pissarro’s late style. This approach translates into graphic work that balances naturalism with a precise, almost monumental treatment of form. The lithograph provides essential documentation of the evolution of the 1830-1903 artist’s style during his final decade. It is housed in the distinguished collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a key example of late nineteenth-century French graphic arts, Haymakers of Eragny is widely reproduced and studied, often accessible via public domain repositories, furthering scholarship on Pissarro's prolific output of prints.