Camille Pissarro’s La Briqueterie Delafolie à Éragny (1884) offers a vivid rural scene from Éragny. The painting has never been to auction, instead gracing numerous exhibitions in Zurich, Paris, Brussels, Warsaw, and Santa Barbara since its creation. Documented as no. 776 in volume III of the catalogue raisonné by Joachim Pissarro and Claire Durand-Ruel Snollaerts (illustrated p. 514), it stands as a testament to Pissarro’s Impressionist legacy. 

The foreground features a polychrome meadow. The staccato green, ochre, and lilac brushstrokes in all directions convey the wind’s gentle movement through the field beneath a fleecy sky. In the distance, the Delafolie brickyard emerges, owned by Pissarro’s good friend and neighbor. The catalogue raisonné notes:  

“The Delafolie brickyard at Éragny, refers to a local family-owned and operated brickyard. Mr. Delafolie wasn’t just a bricklayer—he was Pissarro’s neighbor and brewed his own cider. His cider was reportedly so good that Claude Monet once wrote to Pissarro asking who the merchant was and how he could order a keg for himself. Pissarro and Mr. Delafolie were good friends, and Pissarro often took advantage of Mr. Delafolie’s regular deliveries to Paris and Gisors to ship his paintings along with the bricks.”  

Similar works reside in the Musée d’Orsay, the Walters Art Museum, and the Birmingham Museum of Art. This painting offers collectors a rare, well-traveled piece, embodying Pissarro’s intimate connection to Éragny’s landscape and community.