Twilight with Haystacks

"Twilight with Haystacks," created in 1879, is a significant print by Camille Pissarro (French, 1830-1903) that was masterfully executed by Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917). This unusual artistic collaboration reflects the experimental spirit prevalent among Parisian avant-garde artists in France during the late 19th century. The piece utilizes the complex intaglio process of aquatint, enhanced with etching, rendered dramatically in a deep orange-red ink on ivory wove paper. This classification as a print underscores Pissarro’s dedication to graphic arts alongside his renowned output of oil paintings.

The subject, a rural scene featuring indistinct forms of haystacks against a receding horizon, allows Pissarro to explore transitional moments of natural light. The chosen orange-red pigment effectively captures the specific, fleeting atmosphere of twilight, a key concern of the Impressionist movement. Pissarro dedicated much of his career to depicting agricultural landscapes and the everyday rhythm of peasant labor, grounding his artistic modernity in observable reality.

The technical subtlety and artistry of this impression solidified its importance in the history of French printmaking. The work is a central example of Impressionist graphic arts held by the Art Institute of Chicago, where it resides as part of the esteemed Clarence Buckingham Collection. As a pre-1928 artwork, high-quality images of these historic prints are often available through public domain resources, allowing scholars and enthusiasts worldwide to study Pissarro’s collaborative and technical genius.