![Alfred Sisley - River Banks of Saint-Mammes [1884]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7382/16441476721_8d8e2183e3_o.jpg)
Much of Sisley's work depicts the area around the Ile-de-France, as in this view of the banks of the river at Saint-Mammes. The gentle landscapes which are characteristic of his work overall reveal a delicate understanding of the life and the poetry of the more modest aspects of nature.
The Impressionist approach to painting allowed the artist to capture weather effects, and particularly the changing qualities of light and air. Sky is one of the most important components in any depiction of unspoilt nature and the artist used light, mobile brushstrokes to give a sense of the sky's complexity and dynamism. Water and reflections are also a frequently recurring motif in Impressionist art, and in the narrow river here we can see the current, almost feel it, as the reflection of the sky is broken up and seems to move on the surface of the water. This dappled reflection in water was for the Impressionists a symbol of the changeability of nature.
[Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg - Oil on canvas, 50 x 65 cm]