Camille Pissarro
Pissarro rented rooms on the place Dauphine in his final years and made twenty-six paintings from the windows between 31 October 1901 and 17 May 1902 - the Seine, the Pont Neuf, the Louvre, the Institut and the statue of Henri IV.
28 place Dauphine
Still standing
Outside only
Someone else
The apartment on the Île de la Cité from which Camille Pissarro painted twenty-six canvases between October 1901 and May 1902 — the Seine, the Pont Neuf, the Louvre and the statue of Henri IV, all from one set of windows.
- 28 place Dauphine, 75001 Paris
- Pissarro rented rooms here in the last years of his life
The place, briefly
Camille Pissarro spent the last years of his life renting rooms in Paris and painting what he could see out of them. A chronic eye condition made working outdoors for long stretches difficult, and the answer he arrived at was to rent a good window and stay behind it — a constraint that produced the greatest series of his career.
This was the best of them. Between 31 October 1901 and 17 May 1902 he made twenty-six paintings from this apartment on the place Dauphine, working the same view through changing weather, hours and seasons: the Seine below, the Pont Neuf crossing it, the equestrian statue of Henri IV, the Louvre and the Institut de France beyond.
The place Dauphine is a triangular seventeenth-century square laid out at the western tip of the Île de la Cité, and it is one of the quietest addresses in central Paris — a pocket of stillness with the whole river traffic of the city passing a few metres away. The building dates from the first half of the seventeenth century and its façades and roofs have been listed since 1945.
Of everything in this Atlas connected to Pissarro, this is the one where standing in the right spot gets you closest to the paintings. The apartment is private; the square and the view are not.
Key facts
- Rooms rented in Pissarro's final years
- Twenty-six paintings, 31 October 1901 to 17 May 1902
- The Seine, the Pont Neuf, the Louvre, the Institut, the Henri IV statue
- An eye condition made sustained outdoor work difficult
- First half of the seventeenth century; façades and roofs listed since 1945
- Private apartment; the square and the view are public
Timeline
Pissarro begins the place Dauphine series on 31 October.
The series closes on 17 May, at twenty-six canvases.
Pissarro dies in Paris.
The building's façades and roofs are protected as a monument historique.
On the map
Questions before you go
How many paintings did Pissarro make at the place Dauphine?
Twenty-six, between 31 October 1901 and 17 May 1902, all worked from the windows of his rented apartment.
Why did Pissarro paint from windows so often at the end of his life?
A chronic eye condition made long spells of outdoor work difficult. Renting rooms with good views let him keep making series paintings without exposure.
Can you see what he saw?
Largely, yes. The apartment is private, but the place Dauphine, the Pont Neuf, the statue of Henri IV and the river are all still there, and the building itself has been protected since 1945.
People who knew this place
Within walking distance
Daniel Halévy's Salon (39 Quai de l'Horloge)
Daniel Halévy's literary salon on the Île de la Cité, where D. H. Lawrence went to a tea in March 1929 and met François Mauriac. It produced the only line about Paris that anyone quotes him on.
Visit the placeAcadémie Suisse
The informal life-drawing studio on the quai des Orfèvres where anyone could pay to draw from the model without an examination — and where Camille Pissarro met Paul Cézanne around 1861.
Visit the place
The Seine
The river through Paris, and the thread that runs the length of Giovanni's Room: the crossing at dawn, the men sleeping under the bridges, and the barge where Giovanni is caught.
Visit the place
3 Rue des Grands-Augustins
Robert and Sonia Delaunay's apartment and studio from 1910 to 1935 — where La Prose du Transsibérien took its colors, and whose key Blaise Cendrars held while the couple waited out the First World War abroad.
Visit the placeThe Friday Letter
Paris, one address at a time.
The cafés, studios, and walk-up flats where the work was made — one story from the map in every letter.