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The son of English immigrants, who never received the recognition he deserved during his lifetime, is today considered one of the most important representatives of French Impressionism.
Born in Paris in 1839, Sisley, after a commercial apprenticeship in London, devoted himself exclusively to painting from the age of 23. He studied in the studio of Charles Gleyre, where he met Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, with whom he had a lifelong friendship. After his family lost their fortune in the Franco-Prussian War, Sisley was forced to earn his living from 1870 onwards by selling his works.
Influenced by the style of the English landscape painters William Turner and John Constable, he nevertheless developed in the following years into one of the most important pioneers of French Impressionism. The Seine riverbank and the villages of the Île-de-France as well as the forest of Fontainebleau, generally very popular with the artists of his time, formed the centre of his motifs. Characteristic of Sisley's painting is a subtle use of colour and a unity of contours, which distinguishes his style from the dissolving forms of his friend Monet, with whom he is still often compared today.
Alfred Sisley became famous for his depiction of the Saint Martin Canal in Paris, the aqueduct at Port Marly and the bridge at Moret sur Loing, the small town where he died in 1899 at the age of 60.
The son of English immigrants, who never received the recognition he deserved during his lifetime, is today considered one of the most important representatives of French Impressionism.
Born in Paris in 1839, Sisley, after a commercial apprenticeship in London, devoted himself exclusively to painting from the age of 23. He studied in the studio of Charles Gleyre, where he met Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, with whom he had a lifelong friendship. After his family lost their fortune in the Franco-Prussian War, Sisley was forced to earn his living from 1870 onwards by selling his works.
Influenced by the style of the English landscape painters William Turner and John Constable, he nevertheless developed in the following years into one of the most important pioneers of French Impressionism. The Seine riverbank and the villages of the Île-de-France as well as the forest of Fontainebleau, generally very popular with the artists of his time, formed the centre of his motifs. Characteristic of Sisley's painting is a subtle use of colour and a unity of contours, which distinguishes his style from the dissolving forms of his friend Monet, with whom he is still often compared today.
Alfred Sisley became famous for his depiction of the Saint Martin Canal in Paris, the aqueduct at Port Marly and the bridge at Moret sur Loing, the small town where he died in 1899 at the age of 60.