Alfred Sisley

Paul Aubry, Paris (Sold: Vente P. Aubry, Galeries Georges Petit, Paris, May 10, 1897, lot 30)

Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired at the above sale)

Galerie Paul Cassirer, Berlin (acquired from the above)

Galerie Caspari, Munich (acquired from the above in 1917)

E. K. Königs, Hamburg (acquired from the above in 1932)

Galerie Abels, Cologne (acquired from the above through Galerie Heuser, Hamburg in 1952)

Dr. Curtius, Krefeld (acquired from the above in 1952)

Otto Wolff, Amerongen

London, Royal Academy of Art; Paris, Musée d'Orsay & Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, Alfred Sisley, 1991, no. 43, illustrated in the catalogue

Wuppertal, Von der Heydt-Museum, Alfred Sisley: der wahre Impressionist, 2011-12, illustrated p. 199

François Daulte, Alfred Sisley, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, 1959, no. 755, illustrated

This work is in very good condition. Original canvas with a small reinforcement at upper left. The colors are fresh and lovely and the surface retains a rich impasto. There is a small horizontal restoration 1 1/2 inches long at upper left with a smaller spot beneath it. Under UV light, there are small retouches to 2-3 cracks to the side of the haystack in center left, otherwise fine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Chemin à l'entrée d'un bois is emblematic of the so-called "classic" Impressionist technique developed in the 1870s that dominated Sisley's career. With textured impasto and brevity of form, Sisley conveys the windswept dynamism of a summer day in Chemin, a rural haven southeast of Paris. The poet Mallarmé wrote the following about Sisley's talent for capturing the nuances of the land in his pictures: "Sisley seizes the passing moments of the day; watches a fugitive cloud and seems to paint it in its flight; on his canvass [sic] the live air moves and the leaves yet thrill and tremble. He loves best to paint them in spring ..., or when red and gold and russet-green the last few fall in autumn; for then space and light are one, and the breeze stirring the foliage prevents it from becoming an opaque mass, too heavy for such an impression of mobility and life" (S. Mallarmé, 'The Impressionists and Edouard Manet,' The Art Monthly Review, 1876, translated from the French and reprinted in R. Shone, Sisley, New York, 1992, pp. 118-122).

For Sisley, the element of the sky within a landscape was of utmost importance and such an emphasis pervades Chemin à l'entrée d'un bois. Sisley wrote to the art critic Adolphe Tavernier: "The sky is not simply a background; its planes give depth (for the sky has planes, as well as solid ground), and the shapes of clouds give movement to a picture. What is more beautiful indeed than the summer sky, with its wispy clouds idly floating across the blue? What movement and grace! Don't you agree? They are like waves on the sea; one is uplifted and carried away" (quoted in Sisley (exhibition catalogue), Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1966, n.p.).