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How did the Franco-German War affect Camille Pissarro’s life and artwork?

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Camille Pissarro: Self-Portrait — Camille Pissarro *Self-Portrait*, oil on canvas by Camille Pissarro, 1873; in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

The Franco-German War of 1870 significantly disrupted Camille Pissarro’s life and artistic career. Due to the outbreak of the conflict, Pissarro fled France for London, where he met with fellow artist Claude Monet and the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel.1

During his time in London, Pissarro lived in the suburb of Lower Norwood, where he focused his work on studying the effects of fog, snow, and springtime, producing pieces such as The Crystal Palace, London (1871). Upon returning to his home in Louveciennes after the war, Pissarro discovered that Prussian soldiers had destroyed a large portion of the artwork he had left behind in his studio.1

Following this period of upheaval, Pissarro moved to Pontoise in 1872. There, he gathered a circle of painters, including Paul Cézanne, and began demonstrating his method of painting patiently from nature, a practice that helped shape the development of the Impressionist movement.12