Cardiff Castle of Crossed Destinies

Alfred Sisley

In 1897 Alfred Sisley married his long time partner and the mother of their children, Eugenié Lescouezec at Cardiff Town Hall. They were both dying of cancer. He had been brought to Cardiff by his patron François Depeaux. Depeaux, a collector and promoter of Impressionist Art, had an office in Swansea through which he organised the importation of coal from Wales into Rouen. Sisley and his partner stayed with Mr Thomas a coal merchant who lived in Penarth. Sisley wrote "I have been here for a week...The countryside is very pretty and the Roads with the big ships on them sailing into and out of Cardiff is superb...I don't know how long I will stay in Penarth. I am very comfortable here, 'in lodgings' with some decent folk. The climate is very mild, and has indeed been too hot these last few days, especially now as I write. I hope to make good use of what I see around me and return to Moret in October, or thereabouts'. After their marriage in August the couple spent their honeymoon in the Gower. The year that Sisley make his visit is the same one in which Augustus John bangs his head in Pembrokeshire. 

Born to British parents in Paris, Sisley was one of the founding members of the Société Anonyme, better known as the Impressionist Movement. Sisley showed work in three of the first seven exhibitions held by the 'société'. However, Sisley didn't feel he had done as well as his friends Monet, Renoir and Pissarro and withdrew from Paris to Moret-Sur-Long near Fointainbleu.

Whilst in Penarth and the Gower Sisley painted at least 19 paintings (that are known). The change of scene seemed to have revitalised him. On his return in October an article in Le Journal observed "The Impressionist master has brought back from Penarth and Langland a series of admirable sea pieces, in which the strange flavour of that landscape, little frequented by painters, is rendered with art that is as captivating as it is personal."

A year after their return Eugenié died and the following year Alfred followed her. Monet organised a sale of his paintings to help raise money for their orphaned children. I imagine Monet nipping over to be a witness at Sisley's marriage and perhaps painting his very first Water Lillies at Roath Park Lake. The ones that are now in the National Museum Wales.

For Wales, Sisley's lasting legacy is that his Impressionist paint strokes brought about a sea change in Welsh landscape painting. It was now possible to make a painting in Wales that was not in the shadow of the Romantics. He unlocked the door for Welsh artists Augustus John and James Dickson Innes.