Alfred Sisley (1839 - 1899) France Watercolor on Paper Measure 10"in H x 13 1/4"in W and 18 3/4"in H x 23 1/2"in W with frame Known for: Impressionist seasonal landscape painting Biography: Alfred Sisley was a French Impressionist painter who in 1862 joined the studio of Charles Gleyre, which Monet, Renoir and Frederic Bazille also attended. When Gleyre's studio closed in 1863, Sisley went on to paint with Monet, Renoir and Bazille. His first paintings reflect the Barbizon school traditions but with independent style. Sisley's paintings were accepted for the Salons of 1866, 1868, 1870 and he was a member of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Throughout his painting career, Sisley was principally a landscape painter, notable, during a time while others Impressionists were concerning themselves with the human figure. Sisley did not concern himself with theory, yet his opinions written to the critic Adolphe Travernier in 1893 are relevant to the development of modern art. This quotation serves as an example of his thoughts: "The animation of the canvas is one of the hardest problems of painting. To give life to the work of art is certainly on of the most necessary tasks of the true artist. Everything must serve this end; form , colour, surface. The artist's impression is the life-giving factor, and only this impression can free that of the spectator. And though the artist must remain master of his craft, the surface, at times raised to the highest pitch of liveliness, should transmit to the beholder the sensation which possesses the artist."