Lot 27 D α

From the early 1880s the picturesque village Moret-sur-Loing, near Fontainebleau, became the focal point of Alfred Sisley’s late work. He moved there permanently in 1889, but in the preceding years he had already painted the village with its idyllic stretch of river many times from different perspectives and with its lighting evoking various moods.
For our painting, a particularly beautiful view filled with light, the painter has selected a vantage point on the grounds of the Matrat boatyard. The low-lying morning sun causes the green of the vegetation to glow, generates gleaming reflections of the light on the water and immerses the entire scene in a cool golden shimmer. The buildings of the village – the keep, the town gate and the church Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativité – appear in the form of delicate silhouettes in the morning haze.
The painter preserves the ephemeral impressions of the sky’s nuances of white and blue and the reflections of the buildings and trees in the tranquilly flowing water by means of his shimmering brushwork applied in short strokes. In spite of his concentration on the captivating atmospheric conditions, it is possible to identify details from everyday life, such as the boats pulled up into the boatyard in the foreground and the fishermen on the opposite shore.
Alfred Sisley had dedicated himself entirely to the depiction of rural motifs. In this museum-quality painting, he reveals himself to be a complete impressionist, using colour to enable viewers to experience the light and air of this clear morning.