The gentle trade winds of the Caribbean Sea's Leeward Islands caress azure bays and inlets where the turquoise water laps at finely sanded shores. St Thomas, now part of the US Virgin Islands, belonged to Denmark when Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) was born there, in the town of Charlotte Amalie. Ships of the Danish West India Company, and its more successful competitor the Dutch West India Company, sailed into Charlotte Amalie's harbor; there in the shade of emerald foliage-covered hills, they unloaded their cargo and took on sugar, spice, and other things nice. This contrasts with the cruise ships that populate that same harbor today, discharging their passengers for a day full of fun, sun, and duty-free purchases along the very Main Street (also known as Dronningens Gade) where the Pissarros owned a shop and lived above the store. Camille, with his creativity and talent discovered early, left the sunny Danish West Indies for Paris and the art education unobtainable on his native island.