Alfred Sisley

Beurdeley Collection
Sale: Galerie Georges Petit, Paris
Private Collection, Paris
Brame & Lorenceau, Paris
Kunsthandel M.L. de Boer, Amsterdam
B. Meijer Collection, Wassenaar, The Netherlands 
Private Collection (by descent from the above and sold: Christie's, London, June 22, 2011, lot 108)
Acquired at the above sale

Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, De l'Impressionnisme à nos jours, 1958, no. 192, illustrated in the catalogue

Work is in excellent condition. Surface is well-preserved. Colors are bright and fresh. Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down. Sheet is fixed to mount along the edges where there are intermittent artist's pinholes. Some minor old frame abrasion to extreme perimeter which is not visible when framed.
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.

Sisley’s views of trains and of the station at Veneux-Nadon are well known (see lot 156), while the rest of the Impressionists took to the theme of train travel with differing levels of enthusiasm. For example, Monet’s famous series of oils depicting the Gaze St. Lazare deconstructs the locomotives, smoke and transparent glass roof of this new and very modern building into nearly abstract shapes. Camille Pissarro meanwhile molded the trains (and the bridges built to support them) into the pastoral settings of the countryside as he saw fit (see figs. 1 & 2). As Richard Brettell writes, “It seems likely from pictorial evidence alone that Pissarro and Monet had decidedly different attitudes toward the railroad and modern technology. Pissarro always placed his trains in the midst of landscapes that contain rather than feature them. They are not the glorious motifs that are such an evident feature of Monet’s landscapes (Richard Brettell, Pissarro and Pointoise: A Painter in a Landscape, New Haven, 1990, pp. 70–71).

The two related views in the Haskell collection show Sisley taking two approaches: the first depicts the train cars at rest under a wintery blanket of snow, with figures bustling across the landscape, made smaller by the tall trees that define the view. The present work shows the train in motion, filling the sky with its telltale smoke, amid the bright colors of a spring day.  The drama of each landscape comes from the application of vibrant pastel and from the dramatic, slender trees that serve as a kind of framing device in each composition.