Bring your favorites together in your free personal gallery.
Your galleryThe Seine at Port-Marly, Piles of Sand
Look first
- What catches your attention?
- Where does your eye go next?
- What would you ask about this work?
Show me
Compare the pale sand heaps with the cool river, then follow the long poles and boat edges across the water.
The sand piled on the bank comes from dredging the Seine to keep it navigable for barges. Sisley presents the river as a working place, with laborers and boats sharing the scene. Those practical activities distinguish this stretch of water from the leisure scenes often associated with Impressionism.
Oil on canvas · 54.5 × 73.7 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Impressionism
Look again
What do you notice now?
Try a quick sketch
Take a minute to sketch on any paper. No upload needed.
What did you draw first? What did you leave out?
Details and source
- Museum title
- The Seine at Port-Marly, Piles of Sand
- Artist
- Alfred Sisley (British, active in France, 1839–1899)
- Date
- 1875
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 54.5 × 73.7 cm (21 7/16 × 29 in.); Framed: 71.5 × 90.5 × 9.6 cm (28 1/8 × 35 5/8 × 3 3/4 in.)
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.