Alfred Sisley
The quiet Englishman of French Impressionism, who captured the subtle, shifting moods of sky and water with a poet's sensitivity.
1839–1899 (age 60)·19th-century France-based British painter·Birthday: October 30
Biography
Alfred Sisley lived and painted at the heart of the Impressionist revolution, yet he followed a quieter, more solitary path than his famous friends. Born in Paris to English parents, he rejected a career in commerce to pursue painting, finding his lifelong subject in the landscapes of the Île-de-France. While Monet chased light and Renoir celebrated people, Sisley dedicated himself with singular focus to the transient effects of weather on rivers, fields, and villages. His palette was often more restrained, his touch softer, conveying a sense of serene melancholy. Financial security eluded him, and he lived much of his life in modest circumstances, but this never compromised his artistic vision. He remained, until his death, the purest of the Impressionist landscape painters, a poet of the overcast sky and the flowing Seine, whose work offers a hushed, deeply felt counterpoint to the movement's more exuberant declarations.
#1 When Alfred Was Born
The biggest hits of 1839
Alfred's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1839Born
1844Started school
1852Became a teenager
1855Could drive
1857Could vote
1860Turned 21
1869Turned 30
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1879Turned 40
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1889Turned 50
Eiffel Tower opens in Paris
President: Benjamin Harrison
1899Turned 60
President: William McKinley
Key Achievements
- Was a core founding member of the 1874 Impressionist exhibition that launched the movement.
- Produced a sustained body of work almost exclusively focused on landscape painting, a rarity among his peers.
- His series of paintings of the River Thames near Hampton Court are considered masterpieces of his late period.
Did You Know?
He was the only major Impressionist painter who was a British citizen, though he lived almost his entire life in France.
Much of his family's wealth was lost in the Franco-Prussian War, plunging him into a life of financial hardship.
The Louvre museum did not acquire a Sisley painting until 1907, years after his death.
He was a close friend of fellow Impressionist Frédéric Bazille, and shared a studio with him early in his career.
“Every picture shows a spot with which the artist has fallen in love.”
