Born in the West Indies, Pissarro came to France in 1855. He studied with Corot, and painted in the style of the Barbizon School. In Paris he met Monet, Cezanne, Manet and Renoir and was influenced by their work. He drew up a charter for the group to have regular exhibitions of their Impressionist work. Being considerably older than most of the artists in the group contributed towards Pissarro being thought of as being the group's father figure. He was the only artist to exhibit in all eight Impressionist exhibitions.
From 1885-1889 he was influenced by Seurat and Signac and adopted the principles of Neo-Impressionism. Around 1890 he returned wholeheartedly to the Impressionist movement. Pissarro knew great poverty and did not taste financial success until he was almost sixty years old.
