The Seine at Suresnes

In 1877 Sisley left Marly-le-Roi and moved his family closer to Paris, to Sèvres, the riverside town known for its porcelain factory. Suresnes lies a few kilometres downstream on the same stretch of the Seine, and he signed and dated this view Sisley 77 in the lower left corner. The river, a bridge and the far hillside fill only a low band across the bottom of the canvas, behind rough grass and a clump of trees. Everything above is sky, heaped white cloud broken by patches of blue, laid on in thick curling strokes that you can follow one by one. Down on the water, a single small boat is out in the current, just short of the bridge.