Alfred Sisley

Alfred Sisley was an Impressionist painter who devoted himself almost entirely to landscape. Born in Paris in 1839 to English parents, he stayed British by nationality but spent his life in France. Among the core Impressionists he was the most single-minded about painting the outdoors, capturing rivers, snowy villages, and above all skies with a gentle, consistent touch. His floods at the town of Port-Marly are among his most admired works.

He never enjoyed the success of friends like Monet and Renoir, and he lived much of his life in financial hardship, gaining real recognition only after his death in 1899. His quiet dedication to weather, light, and the changing seasons produced some of the most purely beautiful landscapes of the movement. Sisley is now valued as one of Impressionism's truest and most faithful practitioners.