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Alfred Sisley - English Impressionist

Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) was a French Impressionist of English origins whose work is considered the most typical for Impressionist painters, never varying much from his landscape scenes of the French countryside. His paintings capture scenery from several cities around Paris including Argenteuil, Marly, Moret, Louveciennes and Bougival. Our SegPlayPC collection contains his most recognized works including "Street in Moret", "Sand Heaps", "Flood at Port-Marly", "The Seine at Bougival in Winter ", "Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne", "Still Life with Heron". "Chemin de la Machine, Louveciennes", "The Lesson", "The Church at Moret", "Snow at Louveciennes", "Moret-sur-Loing", and "The Bridge at Argenteuil".

Alfred Sisley (October 30, 1839 – January 29, 1899) was a landscape painter and one of the founders of the French Impressionist School. He lived most of his adult life in poverty, appreciation of his art coming only in his final years.

Although Sisley was born in Paris, his parents were wealthy English expatriates who lived in France -- his father was a merchant who traded with the United States. Hoping that his son would follow in his footsteps, Sisley’s father sent the young Alfred to London to train for a career in business. But Sisley’s heart lay elsewhere and in 1862 he dropped his studies and returned to Paris to study art. His parents supported their son’s ambition and sent him to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the Paris art academy, where he studied under Charles Gleyre who encouraged the young Sisley to be original. It was Gleyre who suggested Sisley paint out of doors.

At Gleyre’s studio, Sisley met other young painters who would later form the Impressionist movement, among them Renoir and Monet, with whom he formed close friendships. The three young students would take outdoor painting trips together, creating works intended to capture the transient effects of sunlight. In 1863 Sisley and Monet left the city and went to live in a quiet, rural suburb of Paris. During this period, Sisley was deeply influenced by the works of Corot, as evidenced by early works first exhibited at the Salon of 1867.

Sisley also began frequenting the Café Guerbois, a favorite meeting place for intellectuals and artists of the day. He became involved in the heated discussions and was deeply moved by the ideas at the heart of Impressionism. He began painting in short, rapid brushstrokes and concentrated on capturing fleeting impressions of shimmering water, the texture of clouds and the movement of foliage in a soft, pastel color scheme of greens, yellows and clear blues.

The Franco-Prussian war, which broke out in 1870, intervened. It was a time of great hardship in Paris. Sisley spent some of the period in London but his father’s business was ruined. Sisley had been receiving an allowance from his father and now the artist suddenly found himself poverty-stricken, a state in which he would remain for the rest of his life. Sisley had married Eugénie Lesouezec in 1866 and the couple had two children so he was now faced with having to support his family without the means to do so.

Sisley and his family moved to Moret-sur-Loing, a lovely village in a rural setting. He was painting full time now and was a pivotal member of the Impressionists, with whom he exhibited regularly. He had broken free from his early influences and in the 1870s he painted an important series of landscapes, one of which, The Bridge at Argenteuil was bought by his friend Manet.

Sisley suffered from cancer of the throat from which he eventually died at the age of 59 in his beloved village of Moret-sur-Loing. His inability to sell his works meant that had lived most of his adult life in poverty due. He had also been overshadowed by Monet, perhaps because he was less flamboyant than him, and it was only after his death that his paintings began to be in demand.

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