Les dunes à Knokke, effet de soleil

On 24 June 1894, Pissarro was forced to flee France for Belgium with his wife and son Félix. The political unrest that had unleashed a series of anarchist terrorist attacks in 1890 and subsequent government reprisals culminated in the assassination of the President of the Republic, Sadi Carnot. Pissarro was known as a sympathizer and found himself listed among the hundreds of suspects. While his trip to Belgium was probably hastened by this political turn of events, it had in fact been planned for a number of months, as letters to his son Lucien from as early as May 29th indicate. Theo van Rysselberghe had encouraged Pissarro to come to Brussels, and Pissarro planned to stay there for three or four months. "In Bruges I should concentrate on watercolors. I will no doubt begin several large canvases in the studio which I will complete in Eragny; I am afraid that I cannot work properly on canvases of 28 x 23 in. and 36 x 28 in. while travelling. I would like to make some carefully executed paintings" (Letter to Lucien Pissarro, dated Paris, 23 June 1894).
The landscapes he produced during this stay abroad are remarkable for their subtle painterly qualities. The topography of sand dunes and fertile fields, punctuated by rural villages, was a dramatic change from the flat pastoral setting of his home in Eragny-sur-Epte. Pissarro spent the summer months working in the small seaside village of Knokke-sur-Mer near Bruges. In Les dunes à Knokke, effet de soleil he heightens the dramatic effect of the scene by raising the horizon line and creating a rhythmic interplay with the forms of the undulating landscape. Pissarro is recorded to have painted thirteen canvases while in Knokke-sur-Mer, and the present work is one of two that focuses on the barrier sand dunes on the outskirts of its town.