About the artist

He was sent from Saint Thomas to France to study and there decided to take up painting. He exhibited for the first time at the Paris Salon of 1859 and, as of 1874, began to exhibit with the Impressionists; he was the only one of the group to show at all eight of the Impressionist exhibitions. He remained attached to landscape motifs throughout his career and, always true to his anarchist beliefs, he depicted workers and the effects of urban development as a commentary on contemporary society. Around 1885, he briefly experimented with Neo-Impressionism, and his palette became more vivid. He produced numerous prints, and illustrations for books and for the anarchist press. Six of his eight children, notably Lucien, became artists.