Port-Marly sous la neige

Port-Marly sous la neige (Port-Marly in Snow) was painted in 1875, during Sisley's residence near the Seine west of Paris. Port-Marly was a recurring subject — he famously depicted the flooding of 1876 there — but his snow scenes from this village are equally prized. The Schorr Collection holds this rare example, capturing the hushed stillness of a riverside community under winter snow. Sisley's ability to evoke silence and cold through paint made these winter canvases among the most sought-after Impressionist works in his lifetime.

Muted whites and soft grey-blues dominate the palette, with warm ochre traces where buildings and ground emerge from snow cover. Sisley applies paint in thin, even layers with subtle tonal modulation, achieving the compressed luminosity of overcast winter light without sacrificing the scene's spatial depth.