National Museum Cardiff
Sisley in England and Wales 2009
Enjoy a celebration of Alfred Sisley, one of the greatest landscape painters of the 19th century, with Sisley in England and Wales.
The exhibition comes to National Museum Cardiff from 7 March to 14 June 2009.
Focused on the artist’s depiction of British landscapes, it is a rare opportunity to see their unique qualities rendered in an Impressionistic style.
Alfred Sisley (1839–1899) was a leading figure and among the founders of the Impressionist movement.
Although his parents were English, Sisley was born and raised in Paris, where he was the only ‘Englishman’ among the French Impressionists.
Sisley became enthralled by the dramatic south Wales coastline when he returned to Britain in 1897, having previously visited London where he painted lively studies of life and leisure along the River Thames.
The artist took up lodgings at Penarth, and later Langland Bay near Swansea.
There, at the very end of his life, Sisley portrayed with remarkable maturity and skill the waves crashing against the rocks of the ruggedly beautiful Welsh coast.
Sisley in England and Wales also features some of the only known seascapes the artist ever produced.
An undoubted inspiration, the Welsh landscape gave rise to some of Sisley’s most free and improvisatory paintings.
His bold images of Wales were to be among his most memorable, and proved the final flourish of his artistic career.
This exhibition was curated in partnership with The National Gallery, London.
Show all events at National Museum Cardiff
Homepage for National Museum Cardiff
Back to What's On front page
