Promenade of Chestnut Trees 1878

Alfred Sisley painted this oil on canvas, *Promenade of Chestnut Trees*, during the late nineteenth century. Sisley was British but spent most of his life working in France. He was part of the Impressionist movement, painting landscapes en plein air. But what was ‘impressionism’ and why did it emerge in France at that time? One way to answer that is to consider the institutional history of art. Since the 17th century, the French *Académie des Beaux-Arts* had a powerful influence on the style and subject of painting. Impressionism arose in opposition to academic art, with its emphasis on historical or allegorical subjects, its highly polished finish, and its display in official Salons. Impressionist painting, by contrast, focused on everyday subjects and the fleeting effects of light, and was shown in independent exhibitions. To understand Sisley’s painting, we can thus explore the complex relationships between artists, institutions and the public. By doing archival research into exhibition reviews, sales records, and artists’ correspondence, we can better understand the changing role of art in French society.