Alfred Sisley

French and British, 1839-1899

Rue de village à Marlotte (Village Street in Marlotte), 1866

oil on canvas

support: 25 1/2 x 36 inches (64.77 x 91.44 cm); framed: 33 1/4 x 43 5/8 x 4 1/2 inches (84.45 x 110.81 x 11.43 cm)

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

General Purchase Funds, 1956

1956:1

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Inscriptions

signature, dated / front, lower left / A. Sisley. 1866

Provenance

by May 1951, M. Renier, Paris;
May 1951, purchased by M. Knoedler and Co., Inc.;
February 10, 1956, purchased by the Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo

Class

Paintings

Work Type

Oil painting

Information may change due to ongoing research.Glossary of Terms

Although Alfred Sisley is considered one of the key figures of Impressionism, he remained somewhat of an outsider from the group. In 1865, Sisley moved from Paris to Marlotte, a small town located in north central France, and this painting is one of two he made based on his initial encounters with the new landscape he found there. Village Street in Marlotte portrays a solitary figure chopping wood. A somber palette of greens, browns, and grey-blues underscores an overall feeling of isolation. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Sisley seldom traveled and did not feel compelled to depict urban life, industrialization, and the more dramatic aspects of nature, contenting himself with painting the world close at hand.

Label from Humble and Human: An Exhibition in Honor of Ralph C. Wilson, Jr., February 2–May 26, 2019