Camille Pissarro is the Impressionist artist known for painting Boulevard Montmartre at different times of day.
In 1897, Pissarro rented rooms at the Grand Hôtel de Russie, giving him a high viewpoint over Paris’s grand boulevards. From his window, he painted the Boulevard Montmartre and nearby Boulevard des Italiens in changing light, weather and traffic. The elevated view let him study a modern city filled with carriages, pedestrians, trees and broad architectural rhythms.
The Boulevard Montmartre series contains thirteen paintings made between February and April 1897. Works such as Boulevard Montmartre, effet de nuit and The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning show how the same urban motif could become visually different through atmosphere and time.
Claude Monet also painted famous serial views, especially of Rouen Cathedral and haystacks, which can cause confusion. Pissarro’s distinctive Paris series, however, focuses on the changing life of the boulevard rather than a single rural or architectural subject.