Mooring Lines, the Effect of Snow at Saint-Cloud  1879

Among the challenges that the Impressionists set for themselves was that of capturing the effect of snow and ice on the landscape. Sisley excelled in such monochromatic wintry views, as demonstrated in this sensitive rendering of the Seine at Saint-Cloud in which the snowy river bank is dramatically crossed by black lines of anchors. The artist’s interest in the sky and th...