However, it is important to highlight his most accomplished works. Of course, while highly desirable to art lovers, few of Sisley's works can be considered truly famous in the way that Monet's paintings are famous. A wonderful example of this is the delightful, The River Loing at Saint-Mammes (1885) where the summer tableau on the river is full of warmth and space because the sky is not only shimmering, but it is perfectly reflected in the river, which offers the only relief from the heat. There is no doubt that Sisley, above all other impressionists, was the one who could balance the grandeur of nature with the subtleties of palette to produce the majesty that would elevate the ordinary to the extraordinary. He has been quoted as saying that he always began his works with the sky and from there everything else fell into place. He had undeniable skill in composition, but his true genius was in the creation of colour and the perfect sky. These grand simple landscapes were Alfred's passion. The resulting eeriness is palpable as we are presented with the calm devastation of people's homes and businesses. A good example of this is The Flood at Port-Marly (1876), where Sisley could easily have included some stricken character to enhance the scene, instead he has chosen to portray it simply and honestly. There was always something understated about the composition of Alfred's paintings he consciously shied away from dramatic additions. His skill with colour and in creating atmosphere was profound. Sisley knew himself very well and the subject matter of the landscape provided unwavering fascination for him throughout his lifetime. His use of colour produced a tangible atmosphere in his paintings that few could rival.Perhaps because the style was so new, and the subject matter so seemingly mundane, the critics and the public never understood what Sisley had actually managed to accomplish with his work as a result, his work rarely sold. Due to the fact that he worked on similar subject matter to Monet, his legacy is largely eclipsed by the better-known painter, but Sisley's work was subtle and nuanced. This always resulted in an image that was almost shimmering in its sensitivity a task all impressionists set out to achieve. In many ways he was the only true impressionist, for he never used black, he always worked outside and used quick, light strokes when applying his paint. Alfred never had the need or desire to explore additional styles of techniques, he was wholly fulfilled, artistically, with the impressionist vision of creating images of reality through the use of light and colour. Sisley was considered a social outsider by many due to his parentage, but he was entirely French trained and unlike many of his fellow impressionists, he never strayed from the principles set down in their manifesto he worked and painted within the guidelines throughout his whole career. He regularly created similar compositions and used many of the same techniques as Claude, but his deft hand produced something quite different from his colleague's paintings. Alfred found a great deal of inspiration among his fellow artists and particularly admired the work of Monet himself. Together with his friends Monet, Renoir and Bazille, he joined forces with fellow rebels Camille Pissarro, Paul Cezanne and Armand Guillaumin and began one of the most important and pivotal artistic movements ever documented. Of course, Sisley was a founding impressionist. In fact, throughout Alfred’s career he continued to favour Corot's colour palette in many of his works. Although little remains of Sisley's student works, it is clear from what is available that he was strongly influenced at this time by realists Gustave Courbet and particularly Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. On his return to Paris he began to study at the studio of Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre where he met fellow students, Claude Monet, Frederic Bazille and Pierre-August Renoir. He was dazzled and inspired by the works of Constable and Turner while in London and is said to have spent long hours admiring their work in the National Gallery. The young Sisley was sent by his father to Britain in order to train in business, however, Alfred had no interested in pursuing any living other than painting. In 1998, almost one hundred years after his death, his now famous Effet de Neige a Louevciennes (1874) sold at Sotheby's for over $9 million. His posthumous fame and acclaim came quickly as only a year later his work began to sell and has been fetching higher and higher prices ever since. Sadly, he was the only impressionist not to know financial and critical success in his lifetime and he died in 1899 at the age of 59 from throat cancer in abject poverty. Sisley's works were almost entirely landscape and he was slavishly loyal to the Barbizon ideal of painting en plein air. Sisley's work has since been recognised as atmospheric and emotional in a way that Monet's never was.
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