This painting was made at Berthe Morisot's family home, which had a fine view of the pre-Eiffel Tower Champs de Mars. Here she has captured the area that hosted the World’s Expo in Paris in 1867. Morisot has also presented the process of industrialization in the second half of the 19th century since, surprisingly, she has intentionally depicted Parisian air pollution: We can see distant buildings, including the golden dome of Les Invalides (only about a mile away as the crow flies), disappearing in a heavy atmospheric haze. At that time, air pollution was a very popular theme in the Impressionists' work; James Abbott McNeil Whistler, Claude Monet, and Camille Pissaro all travelled to London just to paint its notoriously fumy landscapes. Isn’t it amazing that something that is so undesired and fought now was, back then, the inspiration to paint such beautiful pieces of art?
View of Paris from the Trocadero
oil on canvas • 46 x 81,5 cm
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Berthe Morisot