Alfred Sisley

A painter. Although of British nationality, he spent most of his life in France and is considered one of the leading French Impressionist painters. Born into a wealthy British family living in Paris, his father was in the export business. He was sent to London for four years from 1857 to study business, but he developed a strong interest in the paintings of Constable and Turner. Returning to Paris, he got his parents' permission and entered the studio of Charles Gleyre (1806-1874) in 1862, where he became acquainted with Monet, Renoir, and Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870). His first work was accepted for the Salon in 1866. When his father died bankrupt in 1871 after the Franco-Prussian War, the burden of running the family's finances fell on Sisley's shoulders and he was forced into financial difficulties. From this time on, he gradually broke away from the influence of early painters such as Corot and Courbet, and established a bright-toned style of painting that captured nature in plein air. He promoted the Impressionist movement with Monet and others, and exhibited in four of the eight Impressionist exhibitions. In 1879, he attempted to succeed at the Salon, but failed, and the following year, he moved up the Seine, as if to leave the group, and lived in Benou-Nadon and Morey-sur-Loing, where he died. He was the purest landscape painter among the Impressionists, and expressed natural scenes surrounded by a transparent atmosphere under subtle lighting, using a deep perspective that recedes from the foreground to the background. His calm and poetic style remained unchanged throughout his life, and he was almost the only painter who maintained the original Impressionist style throughout his life. His representative work is "The Flood at Paul-Marie" (1876).

[Tatsuji Omori]

"Fabry's World Art: Impressionist Masters 7: Sisley" by Francois Dault, translated by Yoshio Matsumoto (1976, Shogakukan)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

画家。イギリス国籍だが、生涯の大半をフランスで過ごし、フランス印象派の代表的な画家の一人に数えられる。パリ在住の富裕なイギリス人家庭の生まれで、父親は輸出業を営んでいた。1857年から4年間、商業を学ぶべくロンドンに送られたが、コンスタブルやターナーの絵に強い関心を抱いた。パリに戻り両親の許可を得て、1862年にグレールCharles Gleyre（1806―1874）のアトリエに入門、そこでモネ、ルノワール、バジールFrédéric Bazille（1841―1870）らと知り合う。1866年のサロンに初入選。プロイセン・フランス戦争後の1871年に破産状態で父親が他界するや、家計の負担がシスレーの双肩にのしかかり、経済的困窮を強いられる。このころからしだいに初期のコローやクールベからの影響を脱して、自然を外光のもとでとらえる明るい色調の画風を確立、モネらと印象主義運動を推進し、8回開かれた印象派展に4回出品した。1879年にはサロンでの成功を企てたが不首尾に終わり、翌年からはグループから離れるようにセーヌをさかのぼって、ブヌー・ナドンやモレ・シュル・ロワンに居住し、モレに没した。彼は印象派のなかでももっとも純粋な風景画家で、微妙な光のもと、透明な大気に包まれた自然の情景を、前景から後景へと退く奥深い遠近法を用いて表現した。穏やかで詩情に富む作風は終生かわらず、本来の印象主義様式を生涯守り通したほとんど唯一の画家であった。代表作『ポール・マリーの洪水』（1876）。

［大森達次］

『フランソワ・ドールト著、松本芳夫訳『ファブリ版世界の美術　印象派の巨匠たち7　シスレー』（1976・小学館）』

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