Camille Pissarro and His Painter Children

Camille Pissarro, the Impressionist painter, had eight children with his wife, Julie Vellay, and all five of their sons became artists: Lucien, Georges, Félix, Ludovic-Rodolphe, known as Rodo, and Paul-Émile.

He taught them himself, at home and, when they were away, by letter. Lucien, the eldest, born in 1863, made his career in England, and Paul-Émile, the youngest, born in 1884, painted in Normandy until his death in 1972.

Unknown photographer, Camille Pissarro with his family at his portable easel, Éragny, 1901. Photograph, Archives Musée Camille Pissarro, Pontoise.

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Did their mother want them to become painters?

Camille Pissarro, Julie Pissarro in the Garden, 1874. Petit Palais, Paris.

Their mother had her own plans for her sons, and in those plans there was no room for painting…

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What You'll Discover

• Why a former kitchen maid feared painters.

• The drawing rule Camille sent his eldest son.

• The names the sons signed instead of Pissarro.

• The son Camille thought the most gifted.

• The press Lucien named after his parents' village.

• Where the family's drawings are kept today.

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