“The Small Meadows in Spring”
This lovely oil on canvas painting is by the French-born artist of English descent, who was an Impressionist, Alfred Sisley. It is titled “The Small Meadows in Spring” and dates to 1880. Sisley did several versions of this vantage point along the Seine.
This painting depicts the wooded path that ran along the banks of the Seine River between the villages of Veneux and By just south of Paris in the countryside of France. The village seen on the other side of the river is Champagne. The young girl depicted in the painting is actually Alfred Sisley’s 12-year-old daughter, Jeanne. You can still access the path along the river today, only now it is paved.
Sisley painted this and several other pictures of the Veneux-Nadon countryside after moving there in 1880. Financial hardships forced him to abandon the more expensive Paris suburbs for the French countryside.
“The Small Meadows in Spring” is currently in the collection of the Tate Britain in London, England, and is on loan and display at the National Gallery in London, England.
For more on Alfred Sisley, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
