Sisley, Alfred

Alfred Sisley
Born:  30 October 1839, Paris, France
Died:  29 January 1899 (aged 59), Moret-sur-Loing, France
Nationality:  British
Training:  Marc-Charles-Gabriel Glyre
Movement:  Impressionism

Sisley has wealthy English parents who had originally intended him to study commerce.  But he began painting as an amateur, and in Charles Gleyre's studio in 1862 he began his association with masters like Monet, Renoir and and Jean-Frederic Bazille.

The Franco-German War of 1870–71 brought financial ruin to the Sisley family and caused Sisley to go to London. At this crisis stage he made the decision to make painting his full-time career.  The rest of his life was a continuous struggle against poverty. 

Sisley was primarily a landscape painter. His works can be distinguished from others of his colleagues by their softly harmonious values. His early style was much influenced by Camille Corot and his restricted and delicate palette continued to reflect something of Corot's silvery tonalities. His snowscapes paintings are particularly effective.

Sisley died of throat cancer in 1899.

Some of his masterpieces:

Summer, Winter Sun, Forest Path, River Banks, The Wave