Artwork Page for The Lock at Pontoise

Details / Information for The Lock at Pontoise

The Lock at Pontoise

1872

Camille Pissarro

(French, 1830–1903)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
oil on fabric
Measurements
Framed: 76.8 x 105.7 x 11.4 cm (30 1/4 x 41 5/8 x 4 1/2 in.); Unframed: 53 x 83 cm (20 7/8 x 32 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1990.7
Public Domain
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Location
On view at Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, Oct 26, 2025 - Feb 8, 2026
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Did You Know?

The river portrayed here is 212 miles (341 km) long.

Description

Pissarro was instrumental in developing the radically new Impressionist technique of painting quickly outdoors to capture fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. The rushing water and overcast sky in this view of a river lock near the artist’s home at Pontoise, a rural commune about 17 miles northwest of Paris, are rendered with rapid, broken brushstrokes of pure color. Painting directly on canvas without preliminary drawing, Pissarro may have executed this work in a single session. The shimmering surface of broken color conveys the sensation of natural, outdoor light.
Oil painting looking over water toward a cluster of houses. The water of a lock, a gate open to let water rush through, streaks across the lower canvas in thick, broken brushstrokes. On the land behind is a row of square, two-story houses with trees, the tallest trees on the right stalks of dark green rising into a blue sky where greying clouds gather.

The Lock at Pontoise

1872

Camille Pissarro

(French, 1830–1903)
France, 19th century

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