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Sunlight on the Banks of the Loing River, Moret

1905
Francis Picabia (French, 1879–1953)

In Sunlight on the Banks of the Loing River, Moret, Francis Picabia takes his riverside locale, composition, palette, and touch from the Impressionist painter Alfred Sisley’s considerably earlier works of the 1870s and 1880s. Picabia found success painting in this mode at the outset of his career. Yet by emulating, citing, and even copying Sisley and other Impressionist forebears, Picabia tended to muddy—if not contradict—their plein air (open air) painting method, which was intended to convey a direct and spontaneous recording of their perceptions in nature. This early phase in Picabia’s career set a pattern. Though he would change his style many times in the future, Picabia consistently challenged expectations concerning artistic skill, sincerity, and originality.


Object Details

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