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Le lavoir de Billancourt by Alfred Sisley
- Impressionist Alfred Sisley captures the beauty of the French landscape in this oil on canvas
- This stunning view of the Seine was painted during the artist's golden period
- This painting is a prime example of Sisley’s passion for the sky and contrasting environment
- His works can be found in major museums including the Met and the MFA Boston
- Get complete item description here
$1,985,000
Item No.
32-2690
To speak to one of our experts, call 1-888-711-8084
Description
Alfred Sisley
1839-1899 | British
Le lavoir de Billancourt
Signed “Sisley” (lower left)
Oil on canvas
A master of the landscape, Alfred Sisley is one of the founders of the French Impressionist style, and his works are counted alongside Monet and Renoir for their magnificent interpretations of the natural world. This stunning view of the Seine, Le lavoir de Billancourt, was painted during the artist's golden period and captures the. . .
1839-1899 | British
Le lavoir de Billancourt
Signed “Sisley” (lower left)
Oil on canvas
A master of the landscape, Alfred Sisley is one of the founders of the French Impressionist style, and his works are counted alongside Monet and Renoir for their magnificent interpretations of the natural world. This stunning view of the Seine, Le lavoir de Billancourt, was painted during the artist's golden period and captures the. . .
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Alfred Sisley
1839-1899 | British
Le lavoir de Billancourt
Signed “Sisley” (lower left)
Oil on canvas
A master of the landscape, Alfred Sisley is one of the founders of the French Impressionist style, and his works are counted alongside Monet and Renoir for their magnificent interpretations of the natural world. This stunning view of the Seine, Le lavoir de Billancourt, was painted during the artist's golden period and captures the light, atmosphere and immediacy that have made Sisley so prized.
One of Impressionism's purest landscape painters, Sisley devoted himself almost entirely to working directly before nature. After the upheaval of the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris, he moved with his family west of the city. There, along the winding Seine valley, he found the landscape that would define his career—villages, river bends, bridges, working towns and open skies, all transformed by season, weather and time of day.
The artist’s devotion to this place is immediately felt in Le lavoir de Billancourt. The river glistens with reflected light, while the soft sky, airy brushwork and delicate tonal harmonies give the landscape a remarkable sense of freshness and calm. At the center of the composition is a washing house, where locals paid a small fee to wash clothes directly in the Seine. In Sisley’s hands, this humble structure is absorbed into the rhythm of river, sky and shore, brilliantly transformed into a scene of pure splendor.
Sisley was born in Paris to affluent English parents, who supported him financially until the age of 31 when his father lost his merchant trading company. His early years of financial comfort allowed Sisley to practice his art without concern. In 1860, he studied with Monet, Renoir and Bazille in the atelier of Marc-Charles Gabriel Gleyre. It was here that he learned the technique of painting en plein air to better capture the effects of light in nature. His serene views of the Seine, Loing and Île-de-France helped define the visual language of Impressionism, and his works can now be found in major museums worldwide, including the Musée d’Orsay, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery in London, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
This work is accompanied by its certificate of authenticity from the Comité Alfred Sisley and will be included in the forthcoming new edition of the catalogue raisonné being prepared by Galerie Brame & Lorenceau.
Painted 1879
Canvas: 19 1/4” high x 25 1/2” wide (62.9 x 76.8 cm)
Framed: 30 1/4” high x 37” wide x 4” deep (76.8 x 94 x 10.2 cm)
Provenance:
Henri Poidatz, Paris
Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, April 27, 1900, lot 79
Georges Petit, acquired at the above sale
Sale: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, March 4-5, 1921, lot 113
Comte de Lanscay, Paris
Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 6, 1922, lot 16
Eugène Blot, Paris, acquired at the above sale
Dr. Arthur Charpentier, Paris
Private Collection, Switzerland, acquired c. 1950
Private Collection, by descent from the above
Private Collection, Europe
Private Collection, London
Literature:
Maximilien Gauthier, "Hommage à Sisley," in L'Art vivant, 1933, no. 170, p. 116 (illustrated)
François Daulte, Alfred Sisley, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Paris, 1959, no. 315 (illustrated)
Jacques Lassaigne & Sylvie Gache-Patin, Sisley, Paris, 1982, p. 31 (illustrated)
Mary Anne Stevens, ed., Alfred Sisley, London, 1992, p. 154
Sylvie Brame & François Lorenceau, Alfred Sisley: Catalogue Critique des Peintures et des Pastels, Paris, 2021, p. 155, 488 (illustrated)
Exhibited:
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Alfred Sisley, 1917, no. 83
Paris, Durand-Ruel, Tableaux de Sisley, 1930, no. 23
Paris, Galerie d'Art Braun, Sisley, 1933, no. 13
Berne, Kunstmuseum, Alfred Sisley, 1958, no. 38
Paris, Musée du Petit-Palais, De Géricault à Matisse, Chefs-d'oeuvre des collections suisses, 1959, no. 126
Schaffhausen, Museum Zu Allerheiligen, Die Welt des Impressionnismus, 1963, no. 125
Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Past Rediscovered: French Painting 1800-1900, 1969
Greenwich, CT, The Bruce Museum, Alfred Sisley: Impressionist Master, 21st January - 21st May 2017, illustrated in color in the exhibition catalogue p. 134
Aix-en-Provence, Caumont Centre d'Art, Sisley l'impressioniste, June - October 2017, illustrated in color in the exhibition catalogue p. 134
1839-1899 | British
Le lavoir de Billancourt
Signed “Sisley” (lower left)
Oil on canvas
A master of the landscape, Alfred Sisley is one of the founders of the French Impressionist style, and his works are counted alongside Monet and Renoir for their magnificent interpretations of the natural world. This stunning view of the Seine, Le lavoir de Billancourt, was painted during the artist's golden period and captures the light, atmosphere and immediacy that have made Sisley so prized.
One of Impressionism's purest landscape painters, Sisley devoted himself almost entirely to working directly before nature. After the upheaval of the Franco-Prussian War and the Siege of Paris, he moved with his family west of the city. There, along the winding Seine valley, he found the landscape that would define his career—villages, river bends, bridges, working towns and open skies, all transformed by season, weather and time of day.
The artist’s devotion to this place is immediately felt in Le lavoir de Billancourt. The river glistens with reflected light, while the soft sky, airy brushwork and delicate tonal harmonies give the landscape a remarkable sense of freshness and calm. At the center of the composition is a washing house, where locals paid a small fee to wash clothes directly in the Seine. In Sisley’s hands, this humble structure is absorbed into the rhythm of river, sky and shore, brilliantly transformed into a scene of pure splendor.
Sisley was born in Paris to affluent English parents, who supported him financially until the age of 31 when his father lost his merchant trading company. His early years of financial comfort allowed Sisley to practice his art without concern. In 1860, he studied with Monet, Renoir and Bazille in the atelier of Marc-Charles Gabriel Gleyre. It was here that he learned the technique of painting en plein air to better capture the effects of light in nature. His serene views of the Seine, Loing and Île-de-France helped define the visual language of Impressionism, and his works can now be found in major museums worldwide, including the Musée d’Orsay, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery in London, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
This work is accompanied by its certificate of authenticity from the Comité Alfred Sisley and will be included in the forthcoming new edition of the catalogue raisonné being prepared by Galerie Brame & Lorenceau.
Painted 1879
Canvas: 19 1/4” high x 25 1/2” wide (62.9 x 76.8 cm)
Framed: 30 1/4” high x 37” wide x 4” deep (76.8 x 94 x 10.2 cm)
Provenance:
Henri Poidatz, Paris
Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, April 27, 1900, lot 79
Georges Petit, acquired at the above sale
Sale: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, March 4-5, 1921, lot 113
Comte de Lanscay, Paris
Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 6, 1922, lot 16
Eugène Blot, Paris, acquired at the above sale
Dr. Arthur Charpentier, Paris
Private Collection, Switzerland, acquired c. 1950
Private Collection, by descent from the above
Private Collection, Europe
Private Collection, London
Literature:
Maximilien Gauthier, "Hommage à Sisley," in L'Art vivant, 1933, no. 170, p. 116 (illustrated)
François Daulte, Alfred Sisley, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Paris, 1959, no. 315 (illustrated)
Jacques Lassaigne & Sylvie Gache-Patin, Sisley, Paris, 1982, p. 31 (illustrated)
Mary Anne Stevens, ed., Alfred Sisley, London, 1992, p. 154
Sylvie Brame & François Lorenceau, Alfred Sisley: Catalogue Critique des Peintures et des Pastels, Paris, 2021, p. 155, 488 (illustrated)
Exhibited:
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Alfred Sisley, 1917, no. 83
Paris, Durand-Ruel, Tableaux de Sisley, 1930, no. 23
Paris, Galerie d'Art Braun, Sisley, 1933, no. 13
Berne, Kunstmuseum, Alfred Sisley, 1958, no. 38
Paris, Musée du Petit-Palais, De Géricault à Matisse, Chefs-d'oeuvre des collections suisses, 1959, no. 126
Schaffhausen, Museum Zu Allerheiligen, Die Welt des Impressionnismus, 1963, no. 125
Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Past Rediscovered: French Painting 1800-1900, 1969
Greenwich, CT, The Bruce Museum, Alfred Sisley: Impressionist Master, 21st January - 21st May 2017, illustrated in color in the exhibition catalogue p. 134
Aix-en-Provence, Caumont Centre d'Art, Sisley l'impressioniste, June - October 2017, illustrated in color in the exhibition catalogue p. 134
Read Less
Specifications
| Maker: | Sisley, Alfred |
| Period: | 1816-1918 |
| Origin: | France |
| Type: | Paintings |
| Style: | Impressionism |
| Depth: | 4.0 in. (10.16 cm) |
| Width: | 37.0 in. (93.98 cm) |
| Height: | 30.25 in. (76.84 cm) |
| Canvas Width: | 25.500 in. (64.77 cm) |
| Canvas Height: | 19.200 in. (48.77 cm) |
Buy With Confidence
For over a century, we've placed important art, rare jewels and exceptional objects with more than 14,000 collectors worldwide, and have been recognized by trusted publications including Robb Report, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and more.
On Approval
Examine select works in person before you commit
125% Guarantee
Full credit plus 5% annual appreciation for five years
Trusted Expertise
Over two centuries of combined experience across our specialists
