Date: 1894
Materials and technics: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: H. 101 x w. 82 cm
Inscriptions : Signed and dated lower right: "Sisley 94"
Inventory number: PPP118
Acquisition details: Purchase, 1896
Room: 8
An impressionist from the early days, mainly attracted by the landscapes of Ile de France, the British painter Alfred Sisley always worked near to the places where he lived. During the last years of his life, he chose to reside in Moret-sur-Loing, near to Fontainebleau forest.
He painted fifteen or so paintings of his village church at various times of day and in different seasons. The one on display here was executed on a fine evening in 1894. Based on the second floor of a house by Place de Moret, Sisley projected his visual impressions directly onto the canvas. The clear, bold colours applied in small strokes capture the fleeting effects of the evening light. The horizon line placed at the bottom leaves a wide surface area for the sky, which is azure blue with a pearly pink cloud. Despite the spontaneity of this vision, in this painting we also find the architectonic rigour and search for depth that characterised all the painter’s compositions.
The City of Paris acquired this work when it was exhibited in 1896, at the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts.
I. C.
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