"Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne" by Alfred Sisley

Media: Oil on Canvas

Dimensions: 19.5”x 25.75”

Date: 1872

 Alfred Sisley, although of English parents, was born and spent most of his life in France. After an unsuccessful attempt at the business world, Sisley’s parents supported his artistic career. He studied art in Paris, painting with such artists as Renoir and Monet. Sisley was deeply influenced by the emerging Impressionist movement, eventually associating himself completely with Impressionism. After the wars destroyed his family’s fortune, Sisley became poor and remained so until nearly the end of his life, when he finally received some of the acknowledgment that his work deserved.

 Art historian Robert Rosenblum has judged Sisley’s work as “strongly invoking atmosphere and his skies are always very impressive,” compared to many of the Impressionist painters.

 The then state-of-the-art suspension bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne on the banks of the Seine River appears in two of Sisley’s paintings. The short flat brushstrokes are typical of Sisley’s paintings. He gives special attention to the sky, as he does in many of his works, also reflecting the blue of the sky in the glistening water of the river.

 Like most Impressionist paintings, the Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne has a hazy dreamlike feeling to it. The view could be from the position of a person dozing on the riverbank, sleepily taking in the scene of passing water and clouds.