Depicting water had always been a fascination of the Impressionists. Encompassing much of what they sought to express through their art, water was a means for the artists to experiment with the effects of light and colour, creating an ‘impression’ of what they saw in that very moment. Many artists took to watercolour, for in being semi-translucent, was the perfect medium to portray the effect of shifting light. In ‘Bateaux à quai’, Pissarro uses an array of blue, mauve and orange tones to convey the reflections on the water.

Camille Pissarro arrived in Brussels with his wife Julie and son Félix on 25 June 1894, and did not return to France for over three months. He did not stay long in Brussels, leaving very quickly for first Bruges and then the seaside resort of Knokke where his friend Théo Van Rysselberghe had a villa. Having only been in Brussels briefly, ‘Bateaux à quai’ is a rare depiction of the city’s harbour by Pissarro. He wrote to his son Lucien of how “All I have done so far is make a few watercolours; the country is remarkably beautiful”.

Unlike in his paintings of the industrial Norman ports, in ‘Bateaux à quai’ the artist celebrates tranquillity and the enjoyment of nature for leisure. The watercolour is imbued with a sense of serenity and warmth through the sail boats gently floating on the river with the town in the distance.