Alfred Sisley Biography

Alfred Sisley was a landscape painter who helped to develop the technique and look of the movement, ‘impressionism’. Born in France, Sisley was a British citizen who lived and worked in France alongside other famous painters of the movement, including Monet and Renoir. He gave up a business career early in life and painted for a living, even though it meant spending most of his life in poverty. Unlike many other impressionists, he focused his painting career almost exclusively on landscapes, rather than working on figure studies or exploring outside of the movement. His paintings feature countryside scenes captured outdoors in and around the small French village where he spent much of his adult life. Alongside his fellow impressionists, he helped popularize the method of quickly painting ever-changing, natural subjects, rather than carefully controlled studio subjects. His naturalistic depictions of rural French life often include motifs of steam, snow, rain and other yielding, natural elements softening the edges of man-made and industrial objects. Although his paintings were not widely accepted during his lifetime, they now command high prices and are valuable additions to some of the most prestigious art collections in the world. While his name is often overshadowed by Monet and other famous impressionist painters of the time, his contribution to the impressionist movement is invaluable.