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Alfred Sisley (/ˈsɪsli/; French: [sislɛ]; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedication to painting landscape en plein air (i.e., outdoors). He deviated into figure painting only rarely and, unlike Renoir and Pissarro, found that Impressionism fulfilled his artistic needs.
Among his important works are a series of paintings of the River Thames, mostly around Hampton Court, executed in 1874, and landscapes depicting places in or near Moret-sur-Loing. The notable paintings of the Seine and its bridges in the former suburbs of Paris are like many of his landscapes, characterized by tranquillity, in pale shades of green, pink, purple, dusty blue and cream. Over the years Sisley’s power of expression and colour intensity increased.
Sisley was born in Paris to affluent British parents. His father, William Sisley, was in the silk business, and his mother, Felicia Sell, was a cultivated music connoisseur.
In 1857, at the age of 18, Sisley was sent to London to study for a career in business, but he abandoned it after four years and returned to Paris in 1861. From 1862, he studied at the Paris École des Beaux-Arts within the atelier of Swiss artist Marc-Charles-Gabriel Gleyre, where he became acquainted with Frédéric Bazille, Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Together they would paint landscapes en plein air rather than in the studio, in order to capture the transient effects of sunlight realistically. This approach, innovative at the time, resulted in paintings more colourful and more broadly painted than the public was accustomed to seeing. Consequently, Sisley and his friends initially had few opportunities to exhibit or sell their work. Their works were usually rejected by the jury of the most important art exhibition in France, the annual Salon. During the 1860s, though, Sisley was in a better financial position than some of his fellow artists, as he received an allowance from his father.
In 1866, Sisley began a relationship with Eugénie Lesouezec (1834–1898; also known as Marie Lescouezec), a Breton living in Paris. The couple had two children: son Pierre (born 1867) and daughter Jeanne (1869). At the time, Sisley lived not far from Avenue de Clichy and the Café Guerbois, the gathering-place of many Parisian painters.
In 1868, his paintings were accepted at the Salon, but the exhibition did not bring him financial or critical success; nor did subsequent exhibitions.
In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War began; as a result, Sisley’s father’s business failed, and the painter’s sole means of support became the sale of his works. For the remainder of his life he would live in poverty, as his paintings did not rise significantly in monetary value until after his death. Occasionally, however, Sisley would be backed by patrons, and this allowed him, among other things, to make a few brief trips to Britain.
The first of these occurred in 1874, after the first independent Impressionist exhibition. The result of a few months spent near London was a series of nearly twenty paintings of the Upper Thames near Molesey, which was later described by art historian Kenneth Clark as "a perfect moment of Impressionism."
阿爾弗雷德·西斯萊（Alfred Sisley，1839年10月30日－1899年1月29日），法國印象派創始人之一，出生於法國巴黎的一個英國人家庭，之後恢復英國國籍，惟大部分時光在法國渡過。西斯萊主要創作風景畫，風格受到印象派同道和柯羅的影響，主要作品有《楓丹白露河邊》、《魯弗申的雪》、《馬爾利港的洪水》、《洪水泛濫中的小舟》等。他的畫作在生前並不被人看重，死後才獲得好評。
1839年10月30日，西斯萊出生於巴黎。他的父親威廉·西斯萊和母親菲利西亞·賽爾是表兄妹，原籍英國，祖上從事過走私貿易。夫婦倆都是生意人，1830年代為管理倉庫而移居法國巴黎。父親雖然一開始反對西斯萊從事藝術，但後來還是給了他很大支持。1860年，西斯萊進入瑞士畫家格萊爾的畫室，得到他的無私指導，從他的畫室中後來走出了莫奈、雷諾瓦、巴齊耶等著名畫家。這時的西斯萊喜歡社交，常常出入各種晚會。他只在業餘時間從事繪畫，早期受到巴比松畫派影響。1866年他的畫作入選了沙龍，然而次年又同莫奈等人簽署了抵制學院派的請願書。
1860年代中，西斯萊與模特烏傑尼·萊克塞克成為情人，誕下一個兒子和一個女兒。他的父親很憤怒，終止了資金支持。1870年的普法戰爭讓他的父親破產，巴黎圍城後西斯萊為逃難失去了財產和畫作。戰後定居於巴黎西郊，這時的西斯萊在藝術上已走向成熟。之後去了一趟英國，1874年定居於馬爾利，參加了藝術家匿名協會的首屆展覽會。1870年代後期屢屢搬家，1879年父親去世。
1880年，西斯萊定居莫萊，遠離了印象派的朋友們。1897年又赴英國一次，並最終同烏傑尼結婚。1898年妻子因舌癌去世，自己也遭受病魔的糾纏。1899年1月，西斯萊將孩子託付給好友莫奈後，因喉癌逝世。他留下的作品讓莫奈拍賣，拍賣額達14萬5千法郎，在評論界也得到了生前從未得到過的讚譽。
楓丹白露森林邊》（1866）是西斯萊早期作品的代表，受到庫爾貝影響，風格尚未脫離現實主義的框架。到了1870年代，西斯萊才迎來自己的黃金時期。《阿爾讓特依小廣場》（1872）表現農村風景，畫面結構穩定，具有沉靜的詩意，受到柯羅影響，但用色更加大膽。《馬爾利港》（1873）系列具有濃重的抒情性，筆調柔和而富有詩意。1874年赴英國時期，他畫了一些泰晤士河風景，《莫利賽的賽船會》（1874）是其中代表，條狀的色帶凸顯了畫面的動感。西斯萊的雪景畫也很有特色，強調微妙的色彩轉折，禮讚大自然的純潔，代表作有《魯弗申的雪》（1875）、《冬天的魯弗申》（1975）等。
洪水題材對西斯萊也有很大吸引力，《馬爾利港的洪水》（1876）、《洪水泛濫中的小舟》（1976）是其中代表，在他的筆下，水汽瀰漫的景觀具有了一種神話般的意境。1880年代後，西斯萊生活上陷入貧困，作品也水平不一。《聖馬梅的農家院》（1884）、《聖馬梅的造船廠》（1885）以恣肆的色彩描繪普通景物，手法自由奔放。然而進入1890年代以後，他日益的束縛自己，盲目追求質感，繪畫的水準不復如前。
西斯萊受到巴比松畫派的影響，用色明亮，景物清晰。他喜歡用橘紅色來描繪陽光普照的景色，連雪景畫和洪水題材的畫作也充滿暖意，以色彩的交響融化了悲劇成分。1880年代以後的畫作則主要受莫奈的影響。

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