Alfred Sisley

I like impressionist painting. Claude Monet is a bit experimental to me. I prefer Alfred Sisley.

Sisley is actually a friend of Monet. Unlike classical painters who sketched the scene and painted back in the studio, they started painting outdoor to capture the realistic transient effect of sunlight. This is the essence of Impressionism: paint exactly what you see. If you are as irritated and sick as Vincent van Gogh, you see a swirling world of intense coloration. If you are as well-off as Sisley, you see tranquility: sunlight caresses every surface it touches and the colors it manifests.

Impressionists had invented a brand new way to paint, but they wouldn't be able to do it without one technical breakthrough of their time: the invention of tin tubes that allow painters to bring their oil paints outdoor.

I like Impressionist painting because I can feel what the painters felt by looking at their paintings. I liked Vincent van Gogh until a couple of years ago. Now I prefer Alfred Sisley. Maybe I have passed the stage of adrenaline surge and now want some tranquility. Sisley was British after all.


Sisley - Bridge at Villeneuve-la-Garenne. 1872 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York