The Road from Versailles to Louveciennes
probably 1879
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
18 x 22 in. (45.7 x 55.9 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Rodgers, 1964
Accession Number
64.154.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Alfred Sisley’s *The Road from Versailles to Louveciennes* (probably 1879) captures a quiet stretch of rural French countryside in oil on canvas, measuring 18 x 22 inches. As a leading figure in Impressionism, Sisley specialized in luminous landscapes, often painting en plein air to seize fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. This work depicts the winding road connecting the grand Palace of Versailles with the village of Louveciennes, a motif reflecting the everyday beauty of suburban Paris during the late 19th century—a time when France was modernizing after the Franco-Prussian War. Sisl...
About the Artist
Alfred Sisley · 1839–1899
Alfred Sisley (1839–1899) was a British-born French Impressionist landscape painter who remained the most consistently devoted to pure Impressionist principles throughout his career. Born in Paris to prosperous English parents, he studied at the atelier of Charles Gleyre alongside Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Frédéric Bazille, forming friendships that placed him at the heart of the eme...