Why did the world-famous impressionist painter Sisley live in poverty all his life?

Compared with other impressionist artists, Sisley received a "cold shoulder" in modern times.

This artist, who only appeared in the ranking of "Top Ten Impressionist Painters", was not famous when he was alive, and he was poor all his life, far less popular than other impressionist painters with distinctive characteristics.

But he is more attached to impressionist landscape painting than anyone else.

This quiet and almost monotonous person only loves impressionism and landscape painting. He is the most persistent artist in impressionism, and he always adheres to the concept of simplicity and truth at the beginning of learning painting. In pissarro's words, Sisley is the purest impressionist painter, and also the most sincere and persistent impressionist painter, because he insists on the original painting concept-capturing the true impression of natural scenery through the expression of light and color.

At first glance, you may think that this painting is the work of a rich boy. But the fact is that he was born in a rich family, but he was willing to be poor all his life because he chose painting.

Alfred sisley was born in 1839. His parents are both British, engaged in silk trade and have a good life. When he was a teenager, Sisley didn't have to struggle with life, but received an authentic British education in France, which laid a cultural foundation for Sisley's future.

According to the standard script development of the middle class, 18-year-old Sisley listened to his father's arrangement and went to London to study business and prepare to inherit the family business. However, when he was a student, he spent far more time in the museum than in the economics class. He visited the gallery and watched Shakespeare's famous plays. He became interested in painting, especially English landscape painting, which has the traditions of Thomas gainsborough, constable and Turner. Naturally, he began to learn painting in his spare time.

Compared with the children in modern China who were sent to interest classes by their parents to study art when they were young, Sisley, who is still receiving amateur training at the age of 18, seems to never succeed. But if you don't like it, what's the difference between art and long-distance running track and field? For children, it is nothing more than a chore.

Four years later, 22-year-old Sisley returned to Paris, worked in an enterprise and lived an ordinary life. But the idea of painting followed him all the time. And he also found a small world in Paris, Gray's Studio, so at 1860, with the blessing and support of his father, he officially became a student of Gray, which was the biggest turning point in his life.

If a person doesn't really love, how can he easily give up his comfortable family and work and become an artist with no hope, hard livelihood and even no status in the19th century?

Gregory himself is an artist who is too conservative. Sisley's greatest wealth is to meet Monet, Renoir and others again. During that time, Sisley often went to Fontainebleau to sketch with friends. They discuss the colors and changes of scenery under external light, and use light to interpret and express nature. Unlike others, especially Monet, who pay too much attention to the change of light and shadow, Sisley is more traditional, and the modeling and aesthetic feeling of the scenery in his landscape paintings are still the first.

Sisley and his wife.

It was during this period that he met the love of his life, Oudjani Lu Se.

Oudjani is a model. As the owner of a flower shop, she earns some money in her spare time. In Ashley's eyes, she is "very delicate and cultured".

From 65438 to 0867, Oudjani lived with Sisley and gave him a son, Pierre. But this is an unacceptable "sin" for Sisley's conservative family, and his father is furious.

When Sisley began to learn painting, he still had the support of his family, and he often used it to help Monet, Renoir and others who were even poorer.

1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out, and my father's business failed and he went bankrupt completely. However, during the siege, Sisley fled with his family, lost all his property and works, and no one cared about his paintings. He never got rid of the shadow of poverty until his death. The young man in the past had to try his best to support his family. He used to love landscape painting, but in the end he couldn't even support himself and his lover. The embarrassment of life made him depressed several times. Thanks to Oudjani's support and help, she said, "We must fight to the end".

1878, Sisley decided to send this painting to the salon, but it was rejected. At this time, Sisley, except for the occasional support from some patrons, had fallen into a more impoverished situation and had to live with his family in the surrounding towns.

Please click here to enter the picture description. In those embarrassing days, she silently supported and encouraged Sisley until their death. After the Franco-Prussian War,

However, this period was also a decade when Sisley created the Great Leap Forward. He changed from classical landscape painting deeply influenced by karl rove to impressionism.

Unlike other impressionist painters who live in metropolises and pay more attention to the ever-changing urban landscape, Sisley has always been keen on rural and natural scenery. Simple life, harmony between man and nature, Sisley, who has lived in the countryside for a long time, was naturally influenced by this and painted works as quiet as himself.

"The weather here is really good, and I started painting again. Unfortunately, this spring was dry, and the flowering period of fruit trees soon withered, which made it difficult for me to keep up. Life is not so smooth for landscape painters. It was windy this morning, so I had to call it a day. The weather turned dark for a while and the clouds were edged with silver. " -A letter from Sisley to Dr. De Beriau.

The tradition of landscape painting in Britain, especially the paintings by constable and others, also deeply influenced his works. He likes to paint the sky alone, and his sky is always impressive. Robert rosen Bloom said that he was a "textbook impressionist painter without any personal color". Sisley said to his former friend, "I always paint from the sky", "The sky is not only a background, on the contrary, it not only presents a sense of depth from its surface, but also presents a sense of movement due to its form, the effect of a painting or the harmony arranged in its composition".

According to later critics, "In recent years, impressionist painters have paid more attention to themes and images, but Sisley's works cannot be analyzed in this way. His paintings have little to do with society or politics, nor do they record contemporary celebrations, nor do they live as farmers, nor do they have the charm of seclusion. 」

He didn't deliberately paint those sunrises and sunsets, nor did he paint the stormy weather, nor did he paint the sun, the moon and the starry sky, but he tirelessly pursued the changes all year round, even the subtle changes of things in the same scene. However, compared with Monet's crazy obsession with changing light and color, the scenery here in Sisley is still a landscape, a combination of formal beauty.

However, it's hard for you to imagine that such a person who insisted on expressing poetic and plain life was lost in his later years.

Witnessed the growing success of Paris students such as Renoir and Monet, but made him doubt his persistence. Someone said of Sisley: "He looks tired. His brushwork is not what it used to be, and his sketches are weak. Some of the oil paintings he showed today are just faint echoes of beautiful, poetic and moving paintings that flashed before our eyes and produced in our excited memories of the past. 」

Then he took Oudjani to England, lived by the Thames, and married Oudjani there. Because of Sisley's British status, after 30 years of cohabitation, Oudjani finally became Sisley's lawful wife.

Unfortunately, a year later, she got cancer, and before Sisley became famous, she died painfully.

Sisley couldn't wait for that day either. Three months later, he followed his wife at the age of 60.