Lady's Cove, West Side, Wales

Painted in 1897 at Lady's Cove near Langland Bay, Wales, during Sisley's only major trip to Britain. He spent the summer on the Gower Peninsula, and the resulting coastal paintings show a dramatic departure from his familiar Loing valley subjects. The rocky Welsh coastline, with its crashing surf and shifting maritime light, challenged him to work in a more energetic register. The Artizon Museum in Tokyo, which holds an important collection of French Impressionism, preserves this rare document of Sisley's engagement with British coastal scenery.

Bold, sweeping strokes render the sea and rocky outcroppings, with a cooler, greyer palette than Sisley's usual warm river scenes. The composition tilts slightly to follow the natural drama of the coastline, and impasto thickens in the foam and wave-break areas to suggest the weight and movement of Atlantic water.