Setting Sun

The print Setting Sun, created by Camille Pissarro in 1879, exemplifies the artist’s dedicated engagement with graphic arts during a period of intense Impressionist activity in France. This particular work utilizes the challenging techniques of drypoint and aquatint. Drypoint allowed Pissarro to incise lines directly into the plate, creating rich, velvety burrs, while aquatint provided broad tonal variation, essential for capturing the atmospheric effects of light and shadow implied by the title.

Pissarro, a founding figure in the French Impressionist movement, explored printmaking extensively in the late 1870s, seeing the medium as an independent means of expression separate from painting. The Impressionists appreciated the reproducible nature of prints as a democratizing means of disseminating their art to a wider public. This piece reflects Pissarro's sustained focus on naturalistic, often rural, scenes. The execution demonstrates his careful balance between the detailed linear definition provided by drypoint and the expansive, painterly quality achieved through the delicate manipulation of the aquatint ground.

The work underscores Pissarro’s mastery in translating the luminous effects traditionally associated with oil painting into the precise, black-and-white framework of a print. As a result, his graphic output holds significant importance in the history of nineteenth-century French modernism. Today, this impression of Setting Sun resides within the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, contributing significantly to the understanding of his printmaking evolution. High-resolution images of such works are often made available through public domain initiatives, ensuring continued scholarly access to Pissarro’s diverse artistic endeavors.