Soleil couchant

Soleil couchant, now in the Leeds Art Gallery, is one of the relatively rare Sisley sunset paintings — the artist who more often chose grey skies and overcast conditions here turns to the western sky as it fills with the color of declining day. Painted in 1875, the canvas predates his Marly period and belongs to the years when he was still ranging widely through the Île-de-France. The Leeds collection, which includes several significant Impressionist works, acquired this canvas as representative of Sisley's ability to expand beyond his favored atmospheric conditions into the drama of evening color.

The warm oranges and pinks of the sunset sky are handled with longer, more decisive strokes than Sisley typically uses, the scale of the sky matching the breadth of the color effects he is attempting to capture. The landscape below is silhouetted against the light sky, reducing the terrain to simplified dark shapes.