She was the only child of the French artist Lucien Pissarro, who had settled in Britain in 1890, and his wife, Esther (née Bensusan).

[1] Her mother, who had artistic training herself, believed that art was a financially insecure profession, and insisted that Orovida study music.

[14] Despite her father's disappointment, Orovida, in her 20s, abandoned Impressionism and developed an unusual decorative style inspired by Chinese as well as Japanese, Persian and Indian art.

[15] Orovida painted with thin washes of gouache or tempera on silk, linen, paper, and gold leaf.

[11][12] Her most frequent subjects were animals, especially tigers and horses, which she depicted in a decorative, Asiatic, stylised, linear manner.

[14] Another favourite subject was Mongolian horsemen hunting wild animals; others included Persian princes and African dancers.

[10][12] For the last quarter century of her life, after her father's death in 1944, Orovida resumed oil painting, with a marked shift in style and choice of subject.

Her subject matter during this period includes portraits of family and friends, royalty, and especially a variety of cats from domestic to wild.

"[13] Her mother had established the Pissarro family archive at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and Orovida played a significant role in developing it.