The Fields and Hills of Veneux Nadon 1881

Alfred Sisley made this landscape, *The Fields and Hills of Veneux Nadon*, with oil on canvas. The painting is a demonstration of Sisley’s understanding of light, atmosphere, and the material qualities of paint. Look at how the brushstrokes blend together with varied dabs and dashes of different hues that evoke the gentle breeze that rustles through the fields, and the sun's warmth in the sky. With these strokes Sisley is trying to capture an impression of what he sees and experiences in the landscape. Impressionist painters had a close relationship with industrialization. Tube paint allowed them to easily transport and use their colors outside, to witness and represent the effects of weather. The resulting paintings reflected the experiences of a rapidly changing world. By understanding Sisley’s process we can look beyond the surface to engage with the historical moment and see this canvas as more than just a landscape.