The Canal du Loing in Winter

By the winter of 1891 Sisley had been living in Moret-sur-Loing, a small town southeast of Paris, for nearly a decade, and he painted its river and canal over and over through every season. He was the quietest and least celebrated of the core Impressionists, selling little while Monet and Renoir slowly found their buyers. Here he takes an unusual upright format, standing on the narrow strip of land between the still canal on one side and the quicker river on the other, with bare poplars running up the centre. The cold light and the thin winter colours are almost the whole subject. He kept working this same stretch of water until his death in 1899, still short of the recognition that arrived just after, when friends led by Monet raised money for his children.