Oil Paintings Reproductions

About The Artist - Alfred Sisley (October 30, 1839 - January 29, 1899)

Alfred Sisley was an English Impressionist landscape painter, but lived and worked in France.

About The Painting - The Flood at Port Marly

Alfred Sisley's work has been overshadowed by Monet because the artist's works most resemble Monet's. Sisley was not as experimental as Monet, and also liked to work on a smaller scale. Sisley's work has been described as having, "almost a generic character, an impersonal textbook idea of a perfect Impressionist painting" by art historian Robert Rosenblum. The skies in Sisley's landscapes, which he painted with concentration, are very impressive and invoke atmosphere.

Belonging to the early Impressionism era, Sisley's landscape paintings such as The Flood at Port Marly is in keeping with the themes of his other paintings. Partial to the Thames at Hampton Court, Seine River during flood, or snowed in suburbs of Paris all represent the fury and power of nature, while being pure to the Impressionism beliefs.

Alfred Sisley is famous, but not popular, he is admired by not academically so. Sisley produced some of his best works during the 1870s and this decade was marked by vigorous and beautifully painted images that are still admired by art students' world over.

The Flood at Port Marly is neither a complex nor dramatic work of art. It is a sober and reticent illustration, almost severely solemn, of the Port Marly under flood. Just like his other works, Sisley is not trying to make either a political or social comment, nor is he trying to depict the agrarian community or the bourgeoisie. Not attracted to the multi-faceted urban life, Sisley's paintings depict the typical rural and countryside waterways as they collide with the landscape creating a beautiful energy.

The Flood at Port Marly conveys a startling perception in which Sisley has depicted a scene that is commonplace but steeped in imperceptible emotion - the Marly aqueduct flooded with a woman stranded and boats rescuing people, a gray stormy sky and far away mountains adding depth to the imagery.