A spectrum of purposes and styles, inspired by Émile Zola’s experimental approach to novels, documenting ordinary people with objectivity, in a neutral realism.
Sisley
Hephaistos or Vulcan in classical myth, cheated on by Aphrodite/Venus, and as creator of Pandora. In Bosch’s Last Judgement, and elsewhere.
A few miles down river from Grez was the town of Moret, where Sisley lived and painted for 19 years, in poverty and isolation. Here are some examples of his Impressionist landscapes from there.
Claude Monet and family rented a house there, and were joined by Alfred Sisley and his family. Renoir came to visit, and the three painted the river and its bridges together.
After the Paris Commune, Pissarro returned to discover most of his life’s work had been destroyed, but he and Sisley continued to paint in Louveciennes and its surrounds.
In the summer of 1869, Renoir was living at his parents’ house in Louveciennes, and Monet was living near Bougival. Together they painted the works that set out the manifesto of Impressionism.
In 1865, Bazille, Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Cézanne started painting outdoors in front of the motif in the forest, and so Impressionism began.
Self-help thatching and maintaining your scythe, blacksmiths hard at work in their forges, a tilt-hammer in another forge, and a tinker fixing pots.
Landscapes featuring women washing linen and clothes from Isabey, Jongkind, Boudin, Berthe Morisot, Sisley and others.
Paintings of gardeners by Bazille, Sisley, Caillebotte, Pissarro, Grant Wood and others.
The Eclectic Light Company 