Alfred Sisley
English, 1839–1899
Apples and Grapes in a Basket
c. 1880–81
Known primarily as a landscape painter, Sisley produced only a handful of still lifes during his career. In this image, the artist celebrates the visual and sensual pleasure of ripe fruit, heaped in a wicker basket and positioned on a silky, patterned tablecloth. The contrasting textures and the rounded forms of the fruit seem to defy the flatness of the canvas.
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 18 1/8 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm) Frame: 25 1/2 x 31 1/16 x 2 1/2 in. (64.8 x 78.9 x 6.4 cm) |
| Object Number | 1955.543 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
| Status | On View |
Image Caption
Alfred Sisley, Apples and Grapes in a Basket, c. 1880–81, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.543
Select Bibliography
Rathbone, Eliza E., and George T.M. Shackelford. Impressionist Still Life. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with The Phillips Collection, 2001.
Conforti, Michael, et al. The Clark Brothers Collect: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven: distributed by Yale University Press, 2006.
François Daulte.. Alfred Sisley.. Lausanne: Durand-Ruel.. 1959..
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Five: French Paintings of the 19th Century. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1956.
Wildenstein & Co., New York. The Life and Work of Sisley. Oct. 27-Dec. 3, 1966.. Cat. by François Daulte.. 1966.
Wildenstein & Company. An Exhibition of Treasures from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts: Paintings, drawings & rare silver, for the benefit of the Committee to Rescue Italian Art, inc. (CRIA). Exhibition catalogue. New York: Wildenstein & Company, 1967.
Alfred Sisley, 1839-1899. Exh. cat. New Haven: Yale University Press; London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1992.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970.
François Daulte.. Alfred Sisley.. Milan: Fratelli Fabbri.. 1972..
Sylvia Gache-Patin, intro. by Jacques Lassaigne.. Sisley.. Paris: Nouvelles editions françaises,. 1983..
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984.
Raymond Cogniat, tr. by Alice Sachs.. Sisley.. Vaduz, Liechtenstein: Bonfini.. c. 1992..
. Sisley.. Connaissance des Arts, numéro hors-série.. 1992..
Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972.
Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.
Ganz, James A. and Richard R. Brettell. Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Paintings on Exhibition, July 1968. Exhibition brochure. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1968.
EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY
Provenance
Mrs. Allan Hay, New York (until 1899, sold to Durand-Ruel, 2 Mar. 1899); [Durand-Ruel, Paris, sold to Mancini, 13 Nov. 1899]; Mancini, Paris (from 1899); [Knoedler, New York, sold to Clark, 28 Mar. 1951, as Still Life]; Robert Sterling Clark (1951–55); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.
