Rue Eugène Moussoir at Moret Winter

A snowy street stretches through the small French town of Moret-sur-Loing in this 1891 winter scene by Alfred Sisley. The road, known as the Rue Eugène Moussoir, is thick with slush and trodden snow, while a handful of bundled-up figures go about their day. Pale houses blur into the misty distance, and if you follow the rooftops toward the horizon, a soft glow of orange breaks through the gray sky, marking the last light of a late afternoon.

Snow gave Sisley a chance to show off what he did best. Instead of painting the ground a flat white, he layered in touches of blue, lavender, and gray to catch the way cold light shifts across the surface. He was among the most committed landscape painters of the Impressionist circle, and unlike friends such as Monet and Renoir, he stuck with outdoor scenes for his entire life. Fame and money never came his way. He died poor in 1899, and only after his death did people begin to appreciate quiet, honest paintings like this one, made during his final years in the town he loved.