Camille Pissarro, the father of French Impressionism, fled to England in December 1870, after the Prussians invaded France in that year. He already had three sets of relations living in West Norwood, and during his six month stay (until June 1871) produced at least 13 oil paintings and another eight watercolours of scenes in Dulwich, Sydenham, Upper and West Norwood, Anerley and Crystal Palace. Two are in the National Gallery, and another is in the Courtauld Institute. Nicholas will be showing all these paintings, as well as comparative pictures of the scenes 150 years later.

About the speaker, Nicholas Reed

Nicholas grew up in Dulwich, went to Alleyn's School, then read classics at Oxford in the 1960s. He first became interested in this series of paintings in 1977, when there was correspondence in The Times, about which railway station appears in the painting in the Courtauld Institute (now agreed by all to be Lordship Lane Station on the Crystal Palace High Level Line).

The first edition of his book on the subject of the talk appeared in 1987, and the third edition was in 1995. Locally, Nicholas was Chairman of the Peckham Society from 1984-9, and edited the Norwood Review for the Norwood Society, and the Dulwich Newsletter for the Dulwich Society. He was the Founder-Chairman of the Friends of Shakespeare's Globe in 1985-7, and Founder-Chairman of the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery from 1989-92. He has been an accredited lecturer for the Arts Society since 1992.

Doors open at 7:15pm for a 7:30pm start.

Tickets cost £10, and includes a drink on arrival. Doors open at 7:15pm for a 7:30pm start.

Picture - Lordship Lane Station, Dulwich, Camille Pissarro 1871