I have an app for my I-Pad that I truly enjoy. It is named Impressionists. As you thumb through it you can choose between dozens of the old Impressionist painters such as Van Gogh, Cezanne, Renoir and the above-mentioned Pissarro. It is a feast for the eyes.
This morning, I meditated on Pissarro's Girl With a Goat. I thought about many things.
1) Was this goat a favored pet? It seems so, since she had it on a leash and was looking at it with a benign smile. It is certainly a long-haired goat. What do they call those? An Angora? No...
2) It must be spring. I see much greenery, but the leaves are small and the girl wears a cloak.
3) Note the lady's right hand. It is very interesting. It looks very much like a man's hand. This is not all that uncommon for a farm girl. They work hard and many times do a man's work. But God knows, you could search the world over and not find a better woman to marry.
4) That same rough hand seems to be holding a pipe. Not so uncommon for the times, I think. Pissarro was born around 1830, I believe. Many women smoked pipes. Not too elegant for our present women, but tobacco was a harmless diversion in those days. Now, smokers are persecuted, near to the point of being put to the sword.
5) Note on the upper right of the painting. There is a tree limb that looks like an old sword stuck in the rock. It has the rounded hilt, like a soldier's saber. Probably just a cool stick, but the Franco-Prussian War was a 'contemporary war' for the artist. In fact, when Pissarro returned to his home after the war, he found that soldiers had used his paintings to wipe their feet on. Out of 1500 paintings he had 40 left. What a waste!
6) Was this a secret assignation between the artist and this girl? A chance meeting in a little wooded glade? Entirely innocent? A figment of his imagination? Was his blood pounding in his veins as he looked at her sweetness? Would he have liked to kiss the red lips? Perhaps. Maybe it was from a youthful memory. That girl who lived next door, who came to meet him at a secret place. Her father hated him and forbade their romance. He might have been risking life and limb by being with her. The distance between the two smacks of a lack of familiarity, however. I suspect they were strangers.
7) Note the white object, middle left. (Sorry, doesn't show up here.) It appears to be man-made. Also, just below it, the jagged brown object. The ruins of an old cottage wall, perhaps? Was this Pissarro's old family home, fallen into ruins? Maybe his first words to the girl was, "I lived here as a boy."
8) Note on top of the boulder. See how uniform the tops of those small trees? Maybe they are an old fence row? What would be able to get up there? A goat, certainly, has to be effectively fenced.
9) I like the place. I love to walk in the woods. It brings me a feeling of peace, within moments. I like the boulder, so large that it has brush growing on it. Looks like a great place to play cowboys and Indians.
10) Her shoes. They look sort of manly. Black leather, lace up, store bought, high top boots, maybe. Appears to be a home-spun dress.
11) Overall impression I have is this: It is a drawing of his first love, when they were both young and innocent and the world was filled with hope and wonder. Doubtless, you will have your own impressions, or you could research it on the web. Meditate on it before you look it up. Then you will have fed your soul. Wasn't that what impressionism was all about? Painting things as you wanted them, rather than what they actually were? Good day.
I'm CE Wills.
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