‘Deux paysannes assises’ is a large drawing by Camille Pissarro created when the artist was focused upon depictions of women in the landscape. Seen at work, or more often at rest, this series celebrated rural life, and unlike many of his contemporaries, Pissarro portrayed his subjects in a manner that was not to garner sympathy for their seeming hardships but appreciation and respect.

Some ten years before creating ‘Deux paysannes assises’ there was a decided shift in Pissarro’s pictorial style. The landscape became secondary to the figure within his art and the took up more space within the composition, often creating works that drew closer to portraits.

In ‘Deux paysannes assises’ the two women inhabit the entire space. Drawn in rural dress, the figures are removed from any environment with Pissarro instead experimenting with attitudes of the body. The drawing is a preparatory study for a gouache titled Les Bergères. The pose of the figure in the left hand side of the painting is near identical to that of the figure in the right of the present drawing. Pissarro created a great number of paintings of seated women at this time, with the poses of the women in ‘Deux paysannes assises’ highly characteristic of his work and seen in a number of compositions.