The Banks of Orvanne

Painted in 1890 near Moret-sur-Loing, this canvas depicts the banks of the Orvanne, a small tributary that joined the Loing close to Sisley's home. During the late 1880s and early 1890s he made systematic surveys of the waterways, villages, and agricultural land of this corner of the Seine-et-Marne department, building a body of work rooted in deep familiarity with a single landscape. The Tel Aviv Museum of Art's holding of this work reflects the breadth of international collecting of French Impressionism.

The quiet stream is rendered with smooth horizontal reflections, while overhanging vegetation is built up in broken greens and ochres. Sisley uses a varied but harmonious palette that moves from warm earth tones at the banks to cooler, more luminous blues and greens toward the water's center and the distant sky.