The Banks of the Oise

Alfred Sisley

National Gallery of Art

A wide river cuts through a loosely painted, sunlit landscape in this almost square painting. Short strokes of baby and sea blue with touches of white create ripples on the surface on the river, which runs from the lower right corner to the left edge of the canvas. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition and is lined with low hills painted in tones of cobalt blue and grass green. We are on or slightly over the left bank of the river, which is painted in strokes of pale peach, pink, and green. A white path running along the top of the bank curves away from us. People, painted with loose strokes of topaz and navy blue, walk on the path, and a few touches of gray, tan, and emerald green suggest a woman and child sitting in the grassy bank, near the water. A lavender-blue sail rises just beyond the far curve of the path, and two narrow dark blue objects jut into the water nearby, presumably long rowboats. The far bank is lined with a dense cluster of tall, spear-like, blue-green trees reaching high into a powder-blue sky, which is filled with swirling, thin puffs of white clouds. Some light blue smudges at the river’s edge in the distance suggest low buildings. The artist signed the lower left, “Sisley.”