Alfred Sisley biography

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Born October 30, 1839, in Paris, France. The consummate landscape painter, Alfred Sisley was born to English parents and made his first trip to London in 1857. It was there that he was inspired by the work of such English landscape painters as Turner, Constable, and Bonnington. He joined other Impressionist artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir in flouting the strict methods of the École des Beaux-Arts in favor of a more naturalistic and realistic portrayal of his subjects.

In 1868, Alfred Sisley's landscape, Avenue of Chestnut Trees near La Celle Saint-Cloud (Southampton), was shown at the prestigious Salon art exhibition. The painting drew upon the soft tonality of Camille Corot and the dramatic massing of Courbet, both of whom were a strong influence on the artist. Sisley displayed six landscapes at the first Impressionist exhibition, and all were largely criticized. Like many of his contemporaries, Alfred Sisley was condemned for his loose and apparently unfinished execution in such works as Autumn: Banks of the Seine near Bougival (1873; Montreal).

Of all of the Impressionist artists of the period, Alfred Sisley was the purest landscape painter. He painted nearly 900 oil paintings and fewer than a dozen were still lifes and only one or two were genre scenes. The remainder were landscapes spanning from the forest of Fontainebleau and Louveciennes, London to Moret and Wales. He eschewed cityscapes, industrialization and human figures for the serenity of a pastoral setting.

Under the patronage of the French baritone Jean-Baptiste Faure, Alfred Sisley was able to return to England in 1874. While there, he painted a series of canvases at Hampton Court, including Molesey Weir, Hampton Court (1874; Edinburgh), which are remarkably fresh and spontaneous. The painting appears relaxed and informal, and the figures of the naked bathers are executed with great economy of means.

Alfred Sisley exhibited at the second and third Impressionist exhibitions, but it wasn’t until he received a mention in Georges Rivière's L'Impressioniste that the painter received any critical acclaim. Rivière wrote of Sisley's charming talent, his taste, subtlety, and tranquility. Alfred Sisley portrayed a timeless view of nature in which man, although present, is never the controlling force. He died on January 29, 1899, of throat cancer.

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