Wild Flowers

Wild Flowers of 1875 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is an unusual still-life subject in an oeuvre dominated by landscape — Sisley's rare excursion into the tradition of the flower piece that occupied Renoir, Fantin-Latour, and Manet as a market subject alongside their landscape and figure work. The wild flowers as opposed to cultivated blooms is characteristic: Sisley chose the loose, informal bouquet of field flowers rather than the elaborate arranged compositions that dominated the conventional still-life tradition. His treatment brings the outdoor observation of his landscape practice indoors — the flowers painted with the same direct, spontaneous handling as his riverside vegetation, seeking their atmospheric character rather than their botanical precision. The Virginia Museum's holding of this rare still-life Sisley among its French Impressionist collection provides an important counterpoint to his dominant landscape practice, demonstrating that his abilities extended beyond the river valleys and village streets for which he is primarily celebrated.

Sisley painted with fluid, horizontally oriented brushstrokes that emphasize the lateral spread of sky and water. His palette is cool and fresh — pale blues, grays, soft greens — capturing the particular quality of damp English and French atmospheric light.