Alfred Sisley

Alfred Sisley, painted by Renoir and at the Art Institute of Chicago, dated to 1876, is a portrait of Renoir's close friend and fellow Impressionist — the English-born landscape painter who had been part of the original Impressionist circle since the early 1870s. Renoir had painted Sisley once before, with his wife, in a celebrated double portrait from around 1868, and this 1876 return to his friend as subject reflects both their continued friendship and Renoir's periodic use of artist friends as models who could sit with the patience and understanding that professional models sometimes lacked. The Art Institute holds this portrait within a strong collection of French Impressionist painting.

The portrait captures Sisley with a directness and psychological engagement that reflects Renoir's intimate knowledge of his subject. The technique is somewhat more focused and less diffuse than Renoir's figure paintings of the same period, as if the friendship between painter and sitter demanded greater specificity. The color harmony is built around the warm tonality of Sisley's complexion and beard, with cooler background passages receding behind his figure.