Artwork
The Gardener - Old Peasant with Cabbage
The Gardener - Old Peasant with Cabbage is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro. It dates from 1889 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower right: C. Pissarro / 1883-95
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work’s provenance traces a clear path from the artist’s family to the National Gallery of Art, underscoring its recognized cultural value.
The painting shows an elderly peasant gardener clutching a cabbage, a motif that Pissarro uses to embody the dignity of manual labor and the simplicity of rural sustenance. The cabbage functions as a symbol of modest nourishment and the cyclical nature of agricultural work, reflecting the artist’s interest in the lives of ordinary people. By portraying a humble figure amid a modest harvest, Pissarro elevates everyday toil into a subject worthy of artistic contemplation, aligning with his anarchist‑leaning admiration for the working class.
The work’s provenance traces a clear path from the artist’s family to the National Gallery of Art, underscoring its recognized cultural value.
History & Provenance
The Gardener – Old Peasant with Cabbage is an oil on canvas portrait painted by Camille Pissarro in 1900, depicting an elderly gardener with a cabbage plant (Brassica). The work entered the artist’s family by inheritance, passed to his wife and then by gift in 1921 to his daughter Jeanne Pissarro‑Bonin; it was shown in the 1921 Paris exhibition of Mme Vve Pissarro (no. 16). In May 1923 it was sold to the Paris dealer Durand‑Ruel, later to Sam Salz in January 1959 and to Paul Mellon in April 1959, before being gifted to the National Gallery of Art in 1994, where it remains in the collection.
The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It entered the collection in 1994 as a gift from Mr. Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia, who had acquired it in April 1959 from Sam Salz of New York. Salz had purchased the work in January 1959 from Durand-Ruel in Paris. Prior to that sale, the painting had been given in 1921 by the artist's widow, Julie Pissarro, to their daughter Jeanne Pissarro-Bonin, who sold it on 23 May 1923 to Durand-Ruel.
While in the artist's family, the work was included in the 1921 Paris exhibition Collection Mme Vve Pissarro, as catalogue number 16.
Overview
This oil on canvas, titled The Gardener - Old Peasant with Cabbage, depicts an elderly man engaged in garden work. The composition focuses on a figure in a hat, kneeling beside a large cabbage, conveying a sense of quiet labor. The overall impression is one of direct observation, rendered with a particular attention to the light and texture of the scene.
Technique & Style
Camille Pissarro executed this painting in his late sixties, a period when he experienced tremors in his hands. This physical condition influenced his approach, leading him to apply paint thickly in distinct patches rather than through smooth, blended transitions. The resulting surface exhibits a loose, somewhat bumpy texture, which contributes to the artwork's unrefined and authentic character. The brushwork suggests an ongoing process, reinforcing the subject's humble activity.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
