Monumental 19th Century French Produce Market Oil Painting by Camille Olivier

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Nearly six and a half feet across and five feet tall, Camille Olvier’s nineteenth-century French market scene possesses the confidence … Read more Nearly six and a half feet across and five feet tall, Camille Olvier’s nineteenth-century French market scene possesses the confidence of a mural and the immediacy of a fleeting morning in Paris. Pumpkins, cabbages, rhubarb, carrots, radishes, and baskets overflowing with the day’s harvest surge forward in a remarkable display of impasto, the surface built with thick, sculptural layers of paint that catch the light like carved relief. Beyond the abundance of the foreground, the market stalls recede in a masterful forced perspective, dissolving into the hazy architecture beyond. It is Impressionism at its most exuberant: spontaneous yet deliberate, alive with movement, and meant to be experienced from across the room as much as inches away. Even more remarkable is its creator, Camille Olivier, a professional woman artist working in nineteenth-century France, when opportunities for women painters were exceedingly rare. Monumental in scale, fearless in execution, and impossible to ignore, this is not merely a painting of a market day. It is the sensation of one. See less